JERUSALEM -- JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas is set to free six more Israeli hostages Saturday from the Gaza Strip, but the exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is shadowed by heightened tension between the adversaries that clouds the future of the fragile ceasefire deal.

Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross the first two of six Israeli hostages due to be freed Saturday under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The two hostages -- Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39 – were put into Red Cross ambulances after being brought out onto a stage by masked and armed Hamas fighters in front of a crowd in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.