Hamas set to free 11 more hostages as US hopes two Americans are included

Hamas is expected to free 11 more hostages — including potentially two American women — in exchange for 33 Palestinian prisoners Monday.

US National Security Council John Kirby said there is a chance the two US citizens will be among those freed in the latest round of releases, or at least over the next two days, after the Palestinian terror group Hamas and Israel agreed to extend their cease-fire deal through Wednesday,

“We’ll have a better sense, I think, later on… of who’s going to be on this next batch coming out today,” Kirby said Monday of the 11 Hamas hostages set to be freed.

“Obviously we hope that those two American women are on that list and will be reunited with their families later today,” he added. “We’re working on this, literally by the hour.”

The temporary pause in fighting has paved the way for the hostage-prisoner swap, wchih has prioritized the release of women and children. American 4-year-old Abigail Edan was released Sunday — the first US citizen to be freed during the cease-fire.

If the two American women are freed this week, they would be the fourth and fifth US citizens released by Hamas since the start of the war.

US officials believe Hamas is also holding several American men hostage in Gaza and that they are likely not to be included in the current swaps.

Israeli and Hamas officials said they have notified the other side of the people set to be freed Monday. Israel added that it has begun contacting the families of the hostages in order to prepare them for their return.

With the cease-fire deal extended for two more days, Hamas has agreed to release at total of at least 20 more hostages, with Israel agreeing to free one Palestinian prisoner per hostage.

As of Sunday, Hamas has released 58 hostages, including 40 Israeli citizens and 18 foreign nationals. On the Israeli side, officials have released 117 women and minors from its prisons.

The total Palestinian prisoners freed included 28 women, two teenage girls and 87 teenage males. At least 76 of the prisoners did not know what the charges against them were, according to CNN.

The latest batch of prisoners to be released includes three women and 30 teenage males, Hamas officials said.

Israel currently estimates that Hamas has about 198 people held captive in Gaza, about 20 of them foreign nationals. The estimates could not be independently verified.