Israel Says Eight Hostages Including Five Thais to Be Freed Thursday

 Tents are set up next to houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday.(AP)
Tents are set up next to houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday.(AP)
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Israel Says Eight Hostages Including Five Thais to Be Freed Thursday

 Tents are set up next to houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday.(AP)
Tents are set up next to houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday.(AP)

Hamas will release three Israelis, including two women and an 80-year-old man, as well as five Thai nationals during the next hostage release, slated for Thursday, officials from Israel and Hamas said as a tenuous ceasefire between the sides moves ahead.  

The officials named the Israeli women as Arbel Yehoud, 29, Agam Berger, 19, and the man as Gadi Moses, 80.

The officials, who spoke on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the hostages’ families had approved the publication of their names.  

The identities of the Thai nationals were not immediately known.  

A number of foreign workers were taken captive along with dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack that set off the war in Gaza.  

The expected release will keep up the momentum of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas group that began earlier this month and which paused the 15-monthlong war in Gaza.  

As part of the deal, Hamas is releasing hostages in phases in exchange for freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.  

Hostages and prisoners will be released twice this week  

The deal had been negotiated for months under the Biden administration but was finally sealed after President Donald Trump threatened there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages weren't returned.

Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in Israel on Wednesday and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads to Washington next week to meet Trump — the first foreign leader to meet the US president in his second term in office.  

Thursday's release wasn't originally scheduled but came as a result of a standoff between Israel and Hamas over the identities of the hostages released over the weekend.  

Israel had demanded that Yehoud, a civilian, be part of that group and when she wasn't freed, Israel held up the movement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians looking to return to what is left of their homes in the war-battered north of Gaza.  

International mediation efforts brought about the additional release on Thursday and cleared the way for Palestinians to stream north.  

Another release is slated for Saturday, which Netanyahu's office said would free male hostages.  

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners are set to be freed both Thursday and Saturday. 



Iraqi Oil Minister: Kurdistan Region's Oil Exports to Resume Next Week

A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters
A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters
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Iraqi Oil Minister: Kurdistan Region's Oil Exports to Resume Next Week

A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters
A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters

Oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region will resume next week, Iraq's oil minister said on Monday, resolving a near two-year dispute as ties between Baghdad and Erbil improve.
The oil flows were halted by Türkiye in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized pipeline exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.

"Tomorrow, a delegation from the Ministry of Oil... will visit the Kurdish region to negotiate the mechanism for receiving oil from the region and exporting it. The export process will resume within a week," Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani told reporters.

According to Reuters, he added that Baghdad would receive 300,000 barrels per day from the region.

Erbil-based Rudaw TV earlier cited Kurdistan's natural resources minister, Kamal Mohammed, as saying oil exports could resume before March as all legal procedures have been completed.

The Iraqi parliament approved a budget amendment this month to subsidize production costs for international oil companies operating in Kurdistan, a move aimed at unblocking northern oil exports.

The resumption is expected to ease economic pressure in the Kurdistan region, where the halt has led to salary delays for public sector workers and cuts to essential services.