Relief, sadness for freed Palestinian prisoners

GAZA, Nov 25 (Reuters/AP/AFP): For the families of Palestinian detainees freed by Israel under a hostage deal agreed with the Islamist group Hamas, Friday brought relief tinged with sadness at the fighting that is set to continue in Gaza after the expiry of a four-day truce.
Thirty nine Palestinian women and minors detained on various charges were freed under an accord brokered by Qatar that also saw the release of 13 Israeli hostages seized by Hamas gunmen during their assault on Israel last month.
"There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait," said Sawsan Bkeer, the mother of 24-year-old Palestinian prisoner Marah Bkeer, jailed for eight years on knife and assault charges in 2015. Israeli police were seen raiding her Jerusalem home before her daughter was released.
"We are still afraid to feel happy and at the same time, we do not have it in us to be happy due to what is happening in Gaza," she said.
More than 100 more Palestinian prisoners are due to be released over the coming four days and more may be freed if the truce is extended.
In Beitunia, a city near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a large crowd, mostly of young men, greeted freed prisoners by cheering, honking car horns and marching in the street carrying Palestinian flags.
Israeli 'not celebrating' after
family released by Hamas
An Israeli man whose family was kidnapped by Hamas and freed on Friday said he was happy but could not celebrate their return without the release of all those still held in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages on the first day of a truce in the Palestinian territory, bringing the total number of captives released to 29 of around 240 taken when the Islamist group launched its deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
Yoni Asher was at home near Tel Aviv that day when his wife Doron Asher Katz, 34, and their two children, aged two and four, where kidnapped while visiting Doron's mother, 69-year-old Efrat Katz, who was killed during the attack.
At least 10 Thai hostages
released by Hamas
Hamas freed 10 Thai nationals and a Filipino alongside Israeli hostages who were part of the first swap under a new cease-fire deal - including four Thais who had not been officially listed as abducted, Thailand's Foreign Ministry announced Saturday morning.
Thais were the single biggest group of foreigners taken hostage when Hamas took some 240 people during its Oct. 7 surprise attack on southern Israel. Thais working in Israel are mostly employed as semi-skilled farm laborers, at wages considerably higher than those at they can earn at home.
The ministry said the group of 10 Thais in all - nine men and one woman - were undergoing health checks at a medical center in Israel. They would stay there for at least 48 hours before flying home to Thailand. It released photos of the freed hostages in the Israeli hospital where they were taken Friday after their release.
There was confusion overnight about the number of Thais freed, with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that 12 had been freed.