The three men all appeared thin, weak and pale, and in worse condition than the 18 hostages who had previously been freed under the truce.

Hamas named the next three Israeli hostages it plans to release this weekend as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel. It was a sign that the first phase of the truce was moving forward as planned -- even as many observers fear that U.S. and Israeli plans to remove all the Palestinians from Gaza have imperiled the deal.