Eight more hostages were freed by Hamas-led militants on Thursday in a sometimes chaotic process that briefly delayed the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners by Israel and underscored the fragility of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that began earlier this month.

Three more Israeli hostages — two females and an 80-year-old man — were released in Gaza Thursday as the third hostages-for-prisoners swap agreed to by Israel and Hamas got underway, but the chaotic nature of the handover of two of the Israelis angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the extent that he delayed his country's part of the exchange until later in the day.

Three Israelis and five Thai nationals were freed earlier in what PM Benjamin Netanyahu called "shocking scenes".