The armed wing of the Hamas group has said it has freed two female civilian captives in response to mediation efforts by Egypt and Qatar. Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the armed winghas communicated on Telegram that

They have proceeded to release for “force majeure reasons” and reasons of “illness”.

“We decided to release them for humanitarian reasons and poor health. Despite this, the enemy refused to receive them last Friday,” the statement added, referring to the fact that last Friday Israel refused to accept the release of these two hostages. but they have finally decided to release the two prisoners “despite the fact that the occupation (Israel) has failed to comply eight times with the procedures agreed upon with the sponsors of the agreement.”

Israeli authorities have confirmed that Hamas has 222 hostages captured in the incursion of its militias into Israeli territory on October 7.

A spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry already stated on Friday that the release of the American hostages from Gaza took place “after many days in continuous communication” with all parties. Now this mediation has allowed the release of two other hostages.

The Gaza Health Ministry says that 436 people have died in the bombings in the last 24 hours, most of them in the south.