VOA News | Wednesday, November 29, 2023 
Hamas Frees More Hostages as Truce With Israel Reaches Sixth Day

Hamas militants freed more Israeli hostages Wednesday, the sixth day of a truce between the warring parties, while negotiators worked to extend the pause in fighting and free even more hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. With the cease-fire set to formally end Thursday morning, top officials from Qatar, the United States, Egypt and Israel were meeting in Qatar to discuss how, and for how long, to extend the halt in fighting to allow further swaps of hostages and prisoners. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, scheduled to travel to Israel on Thursday, told reporters in Brussels that an extended truce “means that more hostages will be coming home, more [humanitarian] assistance will be getting in” to help displaced Palestinians in Gaza. “Clearly, that’s something we want,” Blinken said. “I believe it’s also something that Israel wants. They’re also intensely focused on bringing their people home.” Qatar told CNN it was “very optimistic” the truce would be extended, likely under the same terms as the first six days, with about three times as many Palestinians held for various offenses in Israeli jails being freed compared with the number of hostages being released by Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization the U.S., U.K, European Union and others…Read more