Israel-Gaza updates: 17 more hostages released, including 4-year-old American girl, officials say
Fourteen Israeli and three foreign hostages were released Sunday, the IDF said.
Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
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What we know about the conflict
The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
Names of Israeli hostages freed on Saturday
The Israeli government released the names of the 13 Israeli hostages released on Saturday by Hamas.
The freed hostages, according to the Israeli Office of the Prime Minister, are:
Freed hostages return to Israel: IDF
The 17 released hostages, accompanied by the Israel Defense Forces special forces, are now in Israeli territory, the IDF said.
"After undergoing an initial medical assessment, they will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families," the IDF said in a statement.
Those released Saturday included eight Israelis ages 18 and under, including one as young as 3, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.
The four foreigners released Saturday are all of Thai nationality, the IDF said.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
17 hostages transferred to Egypt, IDF says
According to the Israel Defense Forces, Red Cross representatives have transferred 17 hostages to Egypt -- including 13 Israeli detainees and four foreigners.
Qatar had previously said seven foreigners would be released Saturday, though has also since updated that figure to four.
The released hostages' convoy is currently making its way through Egypt to the meeting point with IDF soldiers in Kerem Shalom, where the IDF will verify the list, the military said.
The families of the hostages are being updated by IDF representatives with the latest available information.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
'Significant progress' in Saturday's hostage release, IDF says
Following a delay by Hamas, there has been "significant progress" in the efforts to release the hostages from the Gaza Strip Saturday night, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.
"The effort to return the hostages is our moral and ethical duty. We are determined to fulfil this in any way," the spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said at a press briefing Saturday evening. "The effort tonight is progressing and we will inform the families and the public when things happen. Patience is required."
"There is significant progress," he continued, though noted that "nothing is final until it actually happens."
Hagari said Israel will "go back to fighting" if the hostage agreement is not fulfilled.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
Biden says release of hostages 'just the beginning'
President Joe Biden said Friday that the release of 24 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is "just the beginning" of a plan to free 50 of the more than 230 captives over four days.
“It's only a start, but so far it's gone well,” Biden said in a televised address from Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he and first lady Jill Biden are vacationing.
He said Friday's hostage release is part of a deal "reached by extensive U.S. diplomacy, including numerous calls I've made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region," including calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the emir of Qatar.
“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal, and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” Biden said. “Today has been a product of a lot of hard work and weeks of personal engagement.”
Biden said that under the deal, more hostages would be released over the next three days with 50 being "our goal." But he added, "We also will not stop until we get these hostages brought home and an answer to their whereabouts.”
The president said U.S. officials do not know when Americans -- including two women and 4-year-old Abigail Edan, whose parents were killed by Hamas terrorists -- will be among those that are released or their conditions. He added, “We expect it to occur” and that it’s his “hope and expectation” that it “will be soon.”
Biden said the four-day cease-fire that was negotiated for the release of the hostages will allow time to "accelerate and expand humanitarian assistance going into Gaza."
Speaking of the children freed on Friday, one just 2 years old, Biden said, “The teddy bears waiting to greet those children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through at such a very young age.”
-ABC News' Justin Gomez