Hamas is to release a second group of hostages after an hours-long delay on Saturday, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News. Qatari and Egyptian mediators say Hamas agreed to release 13 Israelis and seven foreigners on Saturday in exchange for 39 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the Associated Press reported.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was moving to collect the hostages, said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. President Joe Biden was updated on the latest developments after directly speaking earlier with the Amir of Qatar and the Qatari Prime Minister on potential holdups to the deal and mechanisms to resolve them, Watson said.

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    President Joe Biden was updated on the latest developments after directly speaking earlier with the Amir of Qatar and the Qatari Prime Minister on potential holdups to the deal and mechanisms to resolve them, Watson said.

    Separately, a Qatari delegation arrived in Israel on Saturday to coordinate with parties on the ground and “ensure the deal continues to move smoothly,” according to a diplomat briefed on the visit.

    The start of the pause brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas.

    War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive, returned to the streets, crunching over rubble between shattered buildings and at times digging through it with bare hands.

    For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause meant he could again search through the remains of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.

    The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.


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