By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners Thursday after Hamas fighters freed seven hostages – two Israelis and five Thais.
Large crowds of Palestinians gathered in Ramallah in the West Bank enclave, also known as Judea and Samaria, to welcome the released prisoners in an atmosphere described by reporters as “chaotic but joyous.”
Earlier, the hostages were freed in Gaza’s southern Palestinian city of Khan Younis as hundreds of people surrounded their vans in frightening chaos.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they were “shocking scenes” for hostages who were kept for more than 15 long months.
An eighth hostage, Agam Berger, was released separately in Jabalia north of Gaza City as part of the controversial ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war.
The armed conflict broke out when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others in what Israel described as “the worst atrocity since the Holocaust,” also known as the Shoah.
Since then, some 47,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to Hamas-ruled authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel maintains it killed about 20,000 Hamas fighters, a figure confirmed by a Hamas commander who said half of the group’s 40,000 combatants had died.
Thursday’s releases meant that 15 hostages held by Hamas have been freed since the ceasefire came into effect on January 19. Eighty-two are still being held.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The United States is rapidly approaching another historic fiscal milestone, with the national debt now nearing $40 trillion as Washington continues running massive annual deficits and interest costs consume a growing share of federal spending.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner met senior Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday as the Trump administration intensified efforts to move Gaza toward disarmament and postwar governance, even as Israel continued targeted strikes against terrorist operatives inside the Gaza Strip.
A third red heifer has been born in Israel this season, giving rabbis three candidates now being examined as part of renewed efforts connected to the biblical purification rites required for Temple service.
A highly unusual midsummer storm swept across parts of Israel on Saturday, August 15, bringing heavy rain to Jerusalem, shattering August rainfall records near the capital, and sending floodwaters through a Judean Desert stream in what meteorologists described as an unprecedented summer event.
France’s Constitutional Council has upheld the core provisions of a sweeping new law establishing a legal right to assisted dying, clearing one of the final major obstacles to euthanasia and assisted suicide in a nation long shaped by Catholic tradition.
Scores of people have been killed after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach some of the hardest-hit areas, while a less powerful tremor was reported in North Sumatra province.
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting involving multiple gunmen at Virginia State University early Saturday, authorities said, a day after six people, including a suspected shooter, died in separate shootings in Michigan.