Today has marked the third of a four-day pause in fighting in Gaza during which some of those being held hostage by Hamas are being freed in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas released a total of 14 Israelis and three foreign nationals earlier in the day, and the Israel prison service has now confirmed the release of 39 Palestinian prisoners.

It came a day after 13 Israelis were released in return for another 39 prisoners. On Friday, 24 hostages - 13 Israelis, 10 Thais, and one Filipino - were returned to Israel, again in return for 39 Palestinian prisoners.

It brings the total number of hostages released during the window to 54 and the number of prisoners freed to 117.

In October, two American and two Israeli hostages were also released, while an Israeli soldier was freed during ground operations in Gaza.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Tel Aviv

For some families in Israel, this weekend has brought their loved ones home, and an end to their nightmare. But for most of the hostage families, the ordeal continues.

"I am happy that this has begun because it might continue," said Avi Shamriz, whose son Alon is among the remaining hostages.

"But right now I don't trust anyone," he said. "I don't trust Hamas, I don't trust my own government to keep doing the right thing. So I have nothing. Only to wait."

Avi and other relatives knew in advance that they would likely not see their loved ones this weekend, because mothers and children have been prioritised for this first release.

"I am a mother also, so I understand why the children have to come out first," said Yamit Askenazi, whose sister Doron is believed to be in Gaza. "But we must get them all back, not just certain categories," she said.

Read more: For many hostage families, the painful wait drags on

Israel's prison service has confirmed the release of 39 Palestinian prisoners.

They are being released as part of the deal that has seen 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign nationals freed from Gaza today during a truce between Hamas and Israel.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Tel Aviv

In a hotel near Tel Aviv tonight, as video played on a big screen of the hostages being released, a chant went up from the crowd: “We want everyone, we want everyone”.

Tonight's release is one of mixed emotions for the people here at the Shefayim Hotel. They are all from the Kfar Aza kibbutz, home to the hostages being released.

But there are still nine of their community in Gaza, including Avi Shamriz's son, a 26-year-old student called Alon.

"Of course I am happy for the people tonight. They are my children too, this is my community," Avi said.

"But I am deeply disappointed. They need to release everyone. I am waiting for my son and it is tearing me up."

Shachar Tzuk-Bazak was clapping and cheering the footage of the free hostages when she saw neighbours whose loved ones are still in Gaza.

"Everyone in the community is conflicted tonight, we are excited to see our people coming back, but our people are still there," she said.

"We are broken and healed at the same time."

Some of the hostages released today were moved directly into Israel from Gaza because one of them was an elderly woman who needed urgent medical treatment, President Biden has said.

The group were originally going to be handed over to Egypt, as happened with those released on Friday and Saturday, but were instead taken to northern Gaza and moved into southern Israel.

Speaking in the last hour, Biden said that an “older, non-American elderly woman was very sick and was in need of immediate medical help”.

“They arranged to cross directly into Israel to be able to take her to a hospital,” he added.

Image source, Hostages and missing families forum

Sisters Dafna,15, and Ela Elyakim, 8, were also released today after 51 days in Hamas captivity.

They were attacked at their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October.

The girls were part of a family group whose capture was live-streamed by the attackers themselves.

Posting on social media on Saturday morning, external, their mother said she hoped it would be the last Shabbat she spent without her daughters.

Read more about their story here.

President Biden is asked for an update on the other Americans still being held in Gaza and any information on when or whether they might be released.

"We are hopeful but I don't have anything firmly to tell you at this moment," he says.

He adds: "We are looking for a when to end this so the hostages are all released and Hamas is completely - how can I say it? - no longer in control of any portion of Gaza."

President Biden says today's hostage releases come as the result of "intensive US diplomacy".

"We continue to press and expect that additional Americans will be released as well," he says.

"We will not stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones."

He adds that his administration will be working to "extend the deal" that has brought about the releases and seen a temporary pause in the fighting in Gaza.

President Biden has finished his statement to reporters.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest lines from his statement.

President Biden says Avigail Idan, who turned four while in captivity, "spent her birthday... and at least 50 days before that held hostage by Hamas".

"Today she's free, and Jilly and I, together with so many Americans, are praying for the fact that she is going to be alright," he says.

He adds that Avigail has been through a "terrible trauma" and that those around her will be surrounding her with "love and care".

"What she endured is unthinkable," he says.

Image source, Hostages and missing families forum

As we've been reporting, a four-year-old Israeli-American girl who was kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attacks in southern Israel has been released today.

Avigail Idan was just three at the time she was taken hostage from her home, where her parents were attacked and killed by Hamas gunmen. Avigail escaped from the house during the attacks.

The neighbouring Brodutch family found Avigail and took her in but she and other family members were later abducted by Hamas.

US President Joe Biden is speaking now.

This follows the release of 17 Hamas hostages, including Avigail Idan, a four-year-old Israeli-American.

We'll bring you more shortly.

Israel's military has released more information about how the 17 hostages - 14 Israeli nationals and three foreign nationals - were released from Gaza today.

Twelve of the hostages were escorted by the Red Cross, it says. The BBC understand that they were transferred from northern Gaza into southern Israel.

Four others were taken to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, and from there headed for Israel.

One released hostage who returned to Israel was immediately evacuated to hospital via helicopter, the Israeli military says.

The hostages released by Hamas are now in Israel, and the office of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has published a full list of their names. They are:

• Avigail Idan (age 4)
• Elma Avraham (age 84)
• Adrienne Aviva Seigel (62 years old)
• Roni Krivoi (25 years old)

The Brodutch family:

• Hagar Brodutch (40 years old)
• Ofri Brodutch (10 years old)
• Yuval Brodutch (age 8)
• Oria Brodutch (age 4)

The Almog-Goldstein family:

• Chen Almog-Goldstein (48 years old)
• Agam Almog-Goldstein (17 years old)
• Gal Almog-Goldstein (age 11)
• Tal Almog-Goldstein (age 8)

The Elyakim family:

• Daphna Elyakim (15 years old)
• Ella Elyakim (age 8)

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Cries of joy and applause rang out in an auditorium at a hotel just north of Tel Aviv in the past few minutes as the first footage of the hostages appeared on screen, now safely in the hands Israeli military.

The people staying at this hotel are all former residents of Kfar Aza, the kibbutz that was home to the hostages being released tonight.

As each image of a released hostage was shown in the big screen, there were more cries and more applause. People grabbed one another and hugged.

“We were so terrified up until the last minute that something was going to go wrong,” said Elinor Bitton Bariach, 48, a friend of some of the families getting loved ones home.

“But now we are thrilled and happy, the excitement is unbelievable. It is a small community and this moment means everything to us.”

There are still nine people from the Kfar Aza community among the hostages in Gaza.

“It is not over, it is not the full happiness yet,” Elinor said.

“But we are here for each other. We will be a big community again.”

According to eyewitnesses inside Gaza, the released Israeli hostages have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the north of Gaza rather than in the south, for the first time.

The handover to the ICRC, which has been designated to act as an intermediary, was reported to the BBC's Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abu Alouf, reporting from Istanbul.

Image source, Avi Ohion / L.A.M

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been touring the Gaza Strip, where he spoke with soldiers and visited one of the tunnels that has been uncovered.

Netanyahu said: "We are here in Gaza with our heroic fighters. We make every effort to return our abductees, and eventually we will return them all.

"We have three goals for this war: eliminate Hamas, return all our abductees and ensure that Gaza does not become a threat to the State of Israel again."

He continued: "I am here to say to my friends here, to the fighters here, who tell me the same things, and I repeat this to you, citizens of Israel: we continue until the end - until victory.

"Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the power, the strength, the will and the determination to achieve all the war's goals, and we will."

Hamas confirm they have handed over 13 Israeli hostages, three Thai nationals and one Russian to the Red Cross.

Israeli media reports that the Russian is a dual Israeli citizen, which may explain the discrepancy in numbers: the IDF has said 14 Israelis have been transferred.

The Israeli army says that, based on information it has received from the Red Cross, 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign hostages have been released by Hamas.

We will bring you more as soon as we have it.

Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Jerusalem

The 13 Israeli hostages released on Saturday included 17-year-old Noam Or and his sister, Alma, who is 13. Their mother was one of the more than a hundred people killed at the Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October while their 48-year-old father, Dror, remains in captivity.

Noam and Alma’s uncle, Ahal Besorai, told me the siblings did not know their mother had been killed. “They had to be confronted with the fact that their mother was murdered by Hamas terrorists. So this was quite an ordeal. Just coming back from captivity, from being kidnapped, and be confronted with this news.”

The siblings “did not show any signs of depression”, Besorai added, or indications that they had been physically harmed. “They were slimmer, they lost a lot of weight,” Besorai said. “[But] they seem okay when you talk to them. Alma has this big smile and glittering eyes. It was really wonderful to see… They were really alert and alive and talkative.”

Besorai spoke with them about two hours after their release, which happened after a hours-long delay. He was told by the siblings that they had been kept in a room “with another lady”, who had not been freed, and that they had not seen their father.

“I don’t want to talk about the treatment [they received] because I don’t want to upset other parents who have children, or other people who have relatives [in captivity],” he said. “I can say it wasn’t a smooth ride.”

Image source, Hostages and missing families forum