Hamas, Israel release more hostages in fifth day of Gaza truce

A bus carrying 30 Palestinian prisoners departed on Tuesday evening from the Israeli Ofer prison, which is located near the West Bank city of Ramallah, said a Xinhua reporter on-site.

The Israel Prison Service confirmed that 30 Palestinians, including 15 women and 15 minors, were released from Israeli jails in the fifth swap under a truce deal between Israel and Hamas.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, handed over the fifth batch of hostages to the International Red Cross. The Israeli government also confirmed on Tuesday that the fifth batch of hostages released from the Gaza Strip by Hamas has returned to Israel.

The 12 hostages, including 10 Israelis and two Thai nationals, will undergo an initial medical examination before being escorted by security forces to the hospital to be reunited with their families, according to the statements issued by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and Israel Defense Forces.

The humanitarian four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, supposed to expire on Tuesday morning, was extended for an additional two days, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

Israel did not comment on the extension, but announced early Tuesday morning that it approved to release 50 more female Palestinian prisoners if "more Israeli hostages are released."

Respite in Gaza

The total Palestinian death toll since the deadly assault on Gaza launched by Israel in retaliation for the October 7 surprise Hamas attack, has surpassed 15,000, including more than 6,150 children and over 4,000 women. More than 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in the initial attack, while more than 200 people were taken as hostages.

The calm from the truce allowed glimpses of the destruction wreaked by weeks of Israeli bombardment that leveled entire neighborhoods.

At least 160 bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes were retrieved by rescue teams in the Gaza Strip within the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run media office said on Tuesday.

It said that the bodies were recovered from various locations in the Palestinian coastal enclave ruled by Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, using manual and rudimentary tools.

More than 6,500 people are still missing, including over 4,700 children and women, according to the office.

At least 1.7 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip and are facing the danger of significant spread of infectious diseases, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned in a recent statement.

Nearly 80 percent of Gaza's population has become internally displaced, with approximately 896,000 displaced persons residing in 99 facilities in the central and southern parts of the region, the OCHA said.

Before the war resumes 

Israel has vowed to resume the war with "full force" to destroy Hamas once it's clear that no more hostages will be freed under the deal. The truce is due to end after one more exchange Wednesday night.

At the UN Security Council, China has acted in its capacity as president to facilitate the adoption of the resolution, which calls for extended humanitarian pauses and corridors, the protection of civilians, and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

On November 15, the UN Security Council under China's presidency adopted Resolution 2712, calling for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip "for a sufficient number of days."

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the BRICS extraordinary virtual summit on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, saying that the parties to the conflict must end hostilities and achieve a ceasefire immediately.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will go to New York to preside over a high-level UN Security Council meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue on Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

As the rotating president of the UN Security Council for November, China hopes that by holding the meeting, all parties can have in-depth exchanges, build consensus and take concrete actions to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, realize a truce, protect civilians, and ultimately promote a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian question through the two-state solution, said ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has told Israel that it must work to avoid "significant further displacement" of Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza if it renews its ground campaign aimed at eradicating the Hamas militant group, according to AP citing senior U.S. officials.

(With input from agencies)