Palestinian Official to Reuters: Hostage Exchange to Reoccur This Month

A Palestinian official told Reuters that the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday regarding the release of 50 hostages in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian detainees in Israel "will happen again later this month." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that "this will mean the overall release of a hundred out of about 240 held by Hamas during its attack on October 7." The Palestinian official added that the second exchange would come after the first one. He explained that "they will need four or five days to organize it, and it will involve 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian detainees." He noted that the detainees will include elderly people, women, and children and that the conditions will remain the same. Israeli officials have not confirmed this yet, but Israel offered, in a statement from the Cabinet, to extend the ceasefire by one day for every ten additional hostages delivered by Hamas.