HAMAS released 24 of the hostages it has held in Gaza yesterday, in the first stage of a swap for Palestinians jailed in Israel that forms part of a four-day truce deal, the Red Cross said.

The hostages included 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens and one person from the Philippines, who had been captured during Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, according to Qatar, which mediated the deal.

Footage from the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border showed a line of ambulances emerging from Gaza.