Hamas says it will release three Israeli hostages

Hamas plans to release three Israeli hostages on Thursday that include a dual American citizen and a civilian whose status last week threatened to disrupt the fragile ceasefire between the militant group and Israel.

The Hostages Families Forum said it received news that Hamas will release the three Israeli hostages along with five Thai people who were also abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Among those the militant group plans to release is Arbel Yehoud, 29, whom Israeli officials had expected to be freed last weekend as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, in which a total of 33 hostages are expected to be released.

Agam Berger, 20, and Gadi Moses, 80, are also expected to be released from captivity.

Berger was working as an observer at Nahal Oz base, where she arrived just two days prior to the Oct. 7 attack, and was captured alongside multiple other observers who have since been released.

Moses was living at Kibbutz Nir Oz where he was one of the founding members of the kibbutz's vineyard and gave lectures on agriculture. His partner was murdered during the Oct. 7 attack, the hostage organization said.

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement 30 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been released for civilian hostages and 50 for captive soldiers.

The truce between Israel and Hamas was put in jeopardy on Saturday after Israel blocked Palestinian civilians from moving back to their homes in northern Gaza. Israeli officials said that Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement because it had failed to release Yehoud, a civilian, before captive soldiers.

Hamas similarly accused Israel of breaking the deal, fueling concerns that the ceasefire that has brought a pause to 15 months of deadly fighting in Gaza could be imperiled.

But on Monday, Qatar, a leading mediator in ceasefire negotiations, said that Yehoud would be freed along with two other hostages before Friday, soothing friction over the deal.

Yehoud was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, of which her grandparents were founders, along with her boyfriend Ariel Cunio, 27. The couple had just recently returned to Israel from a trip to South America.

Yehoud's brother, Dolev Yehoud, was also initially believed to have been taken hostage into Gaza, but in September, Israel determined that Dolev, 25, had been killed by Hamas the day of the attacks and that his body had never left Israeli territory.

Cunio and his brother David, 34, remain held captive in Gaza, with neither expected to be released in the first phase of the deal.