Key Points
- Negotiations are under way to extend a truce between Israel and Hamas.
- More hostages are being returned to Israel, a source close to Hamas said.
- 10 Hostages were expected to be freed.
Gazans are "in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe before the eyes of the world," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, while calling for an expansion of the current pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"Intense negotiations are taking place to prolong the truce - which we strongly welcome - but we believe we need a true humanitarian ceasefire," he said at a United Nations Security Council meeting.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the meeting that the Palestinian people "are faced with an existential threat" amid the conflict.
"We are owed respect to our inherent dignity ... Israel has no right to self-defence against a people that it occupies," he said.
More hostages are being released in the fifth day of the Gaza truce, Source: AAP / SOPA Images/Sipa USA
A source close to Hamas said that its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, had handed over a group of Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, an ally of Hamas, said earlier it had handed over several civilian hostages as part of an exchange deal that also involves the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Gaza's Hamas rulers were expected to free at least 10 hostages on Wednesday under the terms of the truce agreement.
The and allied group Islamic Jihad . Those have been mostly Israeli women and children along with foreign citizens.
With more than 80 Israeli hostages and 180 Palestinian prisoners already released and more set to walk free under the agreement, conflict mediator Qatar said negotiators were working for a "sustainable" ceasefire.
A doctor at the scene of Al Ahli hospital after an explosion in October. Source: AAP / Mohammed Saber/EPA
The two women - identified by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Yelena Trupanov, 50, and 73-year-old Irena Tati - were handed over earlier by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross "after the efforts of the Russian president", the Palestinian Islamist group had said.
Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said that "anyone who supports a ceasefire basically supports Hamas's continued reign of terror in Gaza".
China's foreign minister Wang Yi warned that "(a resumption) in fighting would only most likely turn into a calamity that devours the whole region".
A 48-hour extension of an initial four-day truce is nearing its end.
"I welcome the arrangement reached by Israel and Hamas - with the assistance of the governments of Qatar, Egypt and the United States," Guterres said.
The hostages were among some 240 people seized by Hamas gunmen in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed.
Israel's bombardment of Hamas-ruled Gaza in retaliation has killed more than 15,000 Gazans, health authorities there said.
Israel's airstrikes and ground attacks have reduced large parts of the territory's north to rubble.
"An estimated 45 per cent of all homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed," Guterres said.
The truce in Gaza has not ended violence in the occupied West Bank, where an eight-year-old Palestinian boy and a teenager were killed by Israeli troops on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Since the 7 October attacks, more than 230 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the ministry.
Reports of hostages killed
Israel's army said on Wednesday it was investigating a report by Hamas's armed wing that a 10-month-old baby hostage, his four-year-old brother and their mother had all been killed in Gaza.
The military was "assessing the accuracy of the information", it said in a statement.
"Hamas is wholly responsible for the security of all hostages in the Gaza Strip," it added. "Hamas's actions continue to endanger the hostages, which include nine children."
The Bibas family are among the highest-profile hostages seized in the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, due to the age of baby Kfir.
It made no mention of the boys' father Yarden.
A statement released on behalf of relatives by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said they could only wait for further information.
"Our family has learned of Hamas's latest claims. We are waiting for the information to be confirmed and hopefully refuted by military officials," they said.
The significant escalation is the latest boiling point in a long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, gaining power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006.
Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.
Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
Other countries voted against a UN resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety, as a terrorist organisation.
