Hamas is using the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and ceremonies to release the hostages as an opportunity to rebuild itself and assert its authority in the Palestinian enclave by taking over policing, healthcare,

It is believed that at least two of the six American hostages still held in Gaza are alive — Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey. Four other Americans are believed to have been killed in captivity.

Palestinian militants released three more hostages in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as part of the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli citizen Ofer Calderon, 54, were handed over to representatives of the Red Cross in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.