Hamas frees 16 more hostages as mediators push for truce extension, Israel confirms

Hamas released 16 hostages late Wednesday in the latest swap for Palestinians held by Israel under the current Gaza truce, as international mediators raced to seal another extension to allow further exchanges and prolong the pause of Israel’s air and ground offensive in the besieged enclave.

The Israeli military said a group of 10 Israeli women and children and four Thai nationals have been returned to Israel, where they were being taken to hospitals to be reunited with their families. Earlier, two Russian-Israeli women were freed by Hamas in a separate release.

The Israel Prison Service said early on Thursday local time it had subsequently freed 30 Palestinians from Israeli jails, as had been expected. The Palestinians were released from prison facilities in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, the prison service said in a statement.

Negotiators were working down to the wire to hammer out details for a further extension of the truce beyond its deadline of early Thursday. The talks appeared to be growing tougher as most of the women and children held by Hamas are freed, and the militants are expected to seek greater releases in return for freeing men and soldiers.

Citing Israeli officials, Israeli media reported that the military would resume the attack on Gaza at 7 a.m. local time Thursday if the government did not receive a list of hostages to be released that met its criteria by that time.

Israel, according to the reports, is demanding that at least 10 hostages be released on Thursday and that women and children be prioritized.

Pressure to extend truce

International pressure has mounted for the truce to continue as long as possible after nearly eight weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground campaign in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians, uprooted three-quarters of the population of 2.3 million and led to a humanitarian crisis.

In a social media post, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named the two Russian Israeli hostages who were freed on Wednesday as Yelena Trupanov, 50, and Irena Tati, 73.

And in a followup post later on, the office listed the names of the 10 newly freed Israeli citizens as:

• Gal Tarshansky, 13.
• Amit Shani, 15.
• Liam Or, 18.
• Itay Regev Jerbi, 18.
• Ofir Engel, 17.
• Yarden Roman-Gat, 35.
• Moran Stela Yanai, 40.
• Liat Binin Atzili, 49.
• Ra’aya Rotem, 54.
• Raz…