Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert were handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas hours after two other hostages were freed. A sixth hostage will be released privately in the final exchange in the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

More than 600 Palestinians jailed in Israel will be freed in exchange, the Palestinian prisoners media office said Friday. They include 50 serving life sentences, 60 with long sentences, 47 who were released under a previous hostage-for-prisoner exchange and 445 Palestinians who were seized by Israeli troops in Gaza since the war began.

Hamas freed the first five of six Israeli hostages due to be released Saturday even as heightened tension between the adversaries clouded the future of the fragile ceasefire deal. The five included three Israeli men seized while attending the Nova music festival and another abducted while visiting his family in southern