\n Iran said Saturday it helped broker the surprise release of Thai nationals who had been held by Palestinian militants in war-ravaged Gaza since their shock attack on Israel last month.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Friday, Hamas unexpectedly released 10 Thais and a Filipino, along with the 13 Israeli women and children that were part of a temporary truce deal with Israel.\n<\/p>\n
\n Israel in turn freed 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The issue of Thai prisoners was jointly pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar,\" Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told the official IRNA news agency.\n<\/p>\n
\n The releases took place as a temporary truce paused fighting in Gaza for the first time since October 7 when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 240 more hostage, according to Israeli figures.\n<\/p>\n
\n Israel has responded with a withering bombing campaign on Gaza, that has killed more than 15,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run government.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"A list of names of these prisoners was given to Hamas officials to review and assist with the issue from a humanitarian perspective,\" Kanani added.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Thai foreign ministry confirmed the releases on Saturday, saying the 10 individuals -- nine men and one woman -- had been taken to Israel via Egypt.\n<\/p>\n
\n It added that roughly 20 Thais are among the estimated 215 people still held hostage in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the four-day truce, Hamas is expected to free a total of 50 Israeli hostages, some of them dual nationals, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, under an agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Thursday, Kanani welcomed the temporary truce as \"the first step in the path of completely stopping war crimes committed... by the Zionist regime against Palestinian people.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, has hailed the October 7 attacks as a \"success\" but denied any direct involvement.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tehran has made support for the Palestinian cause a centrepiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran said Saturday it helped broker the surprise release of Thai nationals who had been held by Palestinian militants in war-ravaged Gaza since their shock attack on Israel last month. On Friday, Hamas unexpectedly released 10 Thais and a Filipino, along with the 13 Israeli women and children that were part of a temporary truce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-125290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n