Following a second exchange swap that was agreed under a temporary truce in Gaza, prison authorities in Israel have released 39 Palestinian women and children.
The second group of 17 hostages, including 4 Thai nationals, were also released on Saturday from the Gaza Strip and have returned to Israel, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Qatar said that in the second exchange of the truce, 13 Israeli hostages -- eight children and five women -- would be released in return for 39 Palestinian detainees-- 33 children and six women.
On the second day of the ceasefire, critical humanitarian aid was also allowed into the Gaza Strip and gave Palestinian civilians their first respite after seven weeks of relentless bombardment.
Hamas said that it delayed the release of the second group of Israeli hostages until Israel complies with a truce agreement.
The Palestinian group's armed wing said the issues of aid deliveries to the northern Gaza Strip and the selection criteria for prisoner releases were holding up the handover.
A Hamas source had told AFP that the handover of 14 hostages to the Red Cross had begun, then later said the transfer process had been halted.
An Israeli official said the hostages had not yet been handed over to the Red Cross.
On the first day of the four-day ceasefire, Hamas released 24 of an estimated 240 hostages and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison.
24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were freed.
Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a citizen of the Philippines.
During the four days, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed — something United States President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass.
The start of the truce Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas.
The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 litres (34,078 gallons) of fuel - just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume - as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began.
A UN convoy has been able to reach two UNRWA facilities sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs) in the north, where it delivered flour.
It was the first aid delivery to a shelter in the north in more than one month, OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) said in a report on Friday.
Three aid trucks also arrived on Friday in northern Gaza, the first aid deliveries to the north since October 7, according to a local source quoted by Anadolu agency.
“Three trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza City and northern Gaza Friday noon,” said the source.