Hamas announced the release this Wednesday of two Russian citizens held captive in Gaza as a gesture of goodwill with Vladimir Putin. A release that occurs while Israel awaits the handover of another ten Israeli hostages as part of the hostage exchange agreement in force since last Friday.

“In response to the efforts of the Russian president, Hamas has freed two Russians and handed them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross this afternoon,” the Islamist group said in a statement in which it detailed that “they will be sent to the representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry”.

Shortly after this writing, the Israeli Army announced that two Israeli hostages had been handed over to the Red Cross, but the military spokesperson did not detail whether they were Russian hostages, who according to the local press have dual citizenship, Russian and Israeli. .

With this release, the people with Russian citizenship released are now three. On Sunday it will be handed over to another Russian-Israeli man, Roni Krivoi, in a gesture also of respect to Putin for the “recognition of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause.”

So far 81 captives in Gaza have been handed over – at least 61 Israelis and 20 foreigners – due to the agreement to exchange Israeli captives in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners, women and children by both sides. All of them are civilians, and in the case of foreign hostages this pact does not apply, but rather their release is due to parallel agreements.

The release of another ten Israelis in Gaza is also scheduled for this Wednesday, who must leave in exchange for the release of 15 Palestinian women and 15 children from Israeli prisons.

All this occurs while there are still civilian hostages in Gaza. Qatar is also mediating in negotiations for an extension of the current truce.. This expires tonight, but could be extended for several more days if the Islamist group Hamas agrees to release ten more people per day.