Hamas accused Israel of multiple breaches of their ceasefire agreement on Friday, a day before the scheduled exchange of three more Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage in a fragile deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

It is believed that at least two of the six American hostages still held in Gaza are alive — Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey. Four other Americans are believed to have been killed in captivity.

In highly staged ceremonies, Hamas freed three people held captive over the last 15 months. Keeping to its part of the cease-fire deal, Israel released 183 Palestinians held in jails.

Israel and Hamas are due to exchange more hostages and prisoners Saturday, but the backlash over President Donald Trump's proposal for a US Gaza takeover casts doubt over the fragile truce's future.An Israeli campaign group on Friday urged the government to stick with the Gaza truce ahead of a fifth hostage-prisoner swap,

Even in war, branding applies. Israel and Hamas are engaged in a parallel battle of optics despite a ceasefire that took effect Jan. 19 after more than a year of devastating war.

Hamas has agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages as part of a cease-fire agreement with Israel that has brought a pause to more than 15 months of fighting.On Saturday, the militant group freed the first American to be released in the latest truce,

The release planned for Thursday would be the third so far as Israel and Hamas observe a six-week truce, part of a multiphase agreement that mediators hope will end the war in Gaza.

The increasingly theatrical and threatening events have angered Israel and put a cease-fire deal at risk.

Hamas militants freed an American Israeli and two other men held hostage in the Gaza Strip and Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners amid the cease-fire.