Jerusalem
Hamas fighters were set to release a second group of hostages yesterday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, officials said, as a truce largely held in the devastated Gaza Strip after seven weeks of war that has killed thousands of people, most of them Palestinians.
Israeli prison authorities said 42 Palestinian inmates, male and female, would be freed under the terms of the agreement, which mandates exchanges at a ratio of three to one.
An Israeli official source said 14 hostages would be handed over.
The transfers follow an initial exchange on Friday, the first day of a four-day truce that largely silenced the guns on
