{"id":227760,"date":"2025-01-30T13:13:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/three-israelis-and-five-thai-hostages-freed-in-gaza\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T13:13:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:13:45","slug":"three-israelis-and-five-thai-hostages-freed-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/three-israelis-and-five-thai-hostages-freed-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Israelis and five Thai hostages freed in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Three<\/div>


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Three Israeli and five Thai hostages have been freed under a phased ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The first hostage, 20-year-old female Israeli soldier Agam Berger, was released in northern Gaza<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hours later, there were chaotic scenes in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis as footage showed a stunned Arbel Yehoud being led through a crowd, flanked by Palestinian militants.<\/p>\n

Gaza ceasefire latest<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n Image:<\/span>
\n Arbel Yehoud is surrounded as she is handed over to the Red Cross. Pic: Reuters
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The Israeli civilian was at the centre of a dispute<\/a><\/strong> between Israel<\/a><\/strong> and Hamas<\/a><\/strong> last weekend.<\/p>\n

It’s suspected she was being held by Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza.<\/p>\n

A third Israeli, civilian Gadi Mozes, 80, was also released on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Arbel\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moses. Pic: Reuters
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Israeli military identified the five Thai nationals as Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakhan, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat and Rumnao Surasak.<\/p>\n

In return for the release of the eight hostages, Israel was expected to set free 110 Palestinians detained in prisons, including children, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.<\/p>\n

Among them are a 61-year-old held since 1992 and 30 teenagers, the youngest a 15-year-old boy.<\/p>\n

However, their release was delayed after Israel condemned the “harrowing” scenes endured by Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes during their handover to the Red Cross.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the scenes as “shocking” and “horrific”.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Palestinian\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Palestinian Hamas militants release female Israeli soldier Agam Berger. Pic: Reuters
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The latest planned exchange is part of a fragile truce – mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt – that began on 19 January and has so far held, aimed at winding down the deadliest war<\/a><\/strong> ever fought between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n

In the first round, Hamas released three Israeli soldiers, including British-Israeli Emily Damari<\/strong><\/a>, in return for 90 Palestinians, including a teacher who said she had been held for seven months<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the roughly 250 people taken from Israel during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the conflict, some have died in captivity in Gaza, while others have been released or rescued.<\/p>\n

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n

On Monday, hundreds of thousands of Gazans<\/strong><\/a> traversed rubble and dirt to return to what was left of their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

But joy was tempered by grief as many discovered shattered or looted homes, no running water in the vicinity and dire shortages of basic supplies.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

On Thursday, a new Israeli law came into effect banning the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) from Israeli territory.<\/p>\n

It raised fears of a shutdown of its schools, medical facilities and other services in east Jerusalem – and possibly more in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where UNRWA is the biggest provider of aid.<\/p>\n

British MP Sarah Champion, who chairs the International Development Committee of MPs, called the ban “devastating”.<\/p>\n

“Food, water, education, even rubbish collection will all be affected,” she said.<\/p>\n

“In the strongest possible terms, I urge the UK government to do everything it can to get all parties round the table and ensure that UNRWA can fulfil its UN-mandated work. The success of the current ceasefire hangs in the balance if not.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Israeli and five Thai hostages have been freed under a phased ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza. The first hostage, 20-year-old female Israeli soldier Agam Berger, was released in northern Gaza. Hours later, there were chaotic scenes in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis as footage showed a stunned Arbel Yehoud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/01\/768x432\/skynews-arbel-yehoud-khan-younis_6814408.jpg?20250130114108","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44680,43,193,24513,5550],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227762,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227760\/revisions\/227762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}