TEL AVIV, Israel — Families in Israel with loved ones still held by Hamas were hopeful that a third hostages-for-prisoners swap on Sunday would go ahead as planned after the Palestinian Islamist militant group nearly backed out of the previous day’s exchange.
The latest trade of captives — the next-to-last under the original four-day cease-fire deal between the two sides — comes amid signs of rising violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed five people in an operation overnight at a refugee camp there. Three others were killed elsewhere in the territory, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
On Saturday, the second exchange of captives came close to unraveling over what Hamas said were Israeli violations of terms of the truce that has briefly halted the fighting in Gaza. Israel denies such violations.
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