JERUSALEM -- JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas is set to free six more Israeli hostages Saturday from the Gaza Strip, but the exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is shadowed by heightened tension between the adversaries that clouds the future of the fragile ceasefire deal.

Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross the first two of six Israeli hostages due to be freed Saturday under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire

A senior official of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on Wednesday that Hamas has informed the mediators that it is ready to release all detained individuals in one go during the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement,