Hamas names four Israeli female soldier hostages to be freed in second swop
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Israeli hostages (clockwise from top left) Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa and Liri Albag will be released on Jan 25.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
TEL AVIV – Palestinian militant group Hamas on Jan 24 announced the names of four Israeli female soldiers to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the second swop under a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Ms Karina Ariev, Ms Daniella Gilboa, Ms Naama Levy and Ms Liri Albag, members of a military surveillance unit posted near Gaza when Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack occurred, would be freed on Jan 25, the group said.
The exchange follows a release on the ceasefire's first day
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Jan 24 confirmed that the list had been received from the mediators but did not disclose the names on it. Israel’s response would be presented later, it said in a statement.
Israeli media said the list was not in line with the original agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The reports said civilian Arbel Yehoud was expected to be on the list.
Israel’s health ministry said hospitals are being prepared to receive the hostages, indicating that the exchange is expected to go ahead.
Video of the four as well as another soldier after they were captured at the Nahal Oz military base was broadcast on Israeli television in 2024.
Their families permitted the airing in a bid to increase awareness and build pressure to get them back.
In the six-week first phase of the ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier freed, officials said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be let go in return for the four.
After the Jan 19 release of hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel said 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.
The ceasefire, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November 2023.
In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The territory lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.
Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023,
Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.
The release of the first three hostages on Jan 19 brought an emotional response from Israelis.
But the phased release has drawn protests from some Israelis. They fear the deal will break down after women, children, elderly and ill hostages are freed in the first phase, condemning male hostages of military age whose fate is not to be resolved until later.
Others, including some in the government, feel the deal hands a victory to Hamas, which has reasserted its presence in Gaza despite vows from Israeli leaders to destroy it.
Hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have demanded that Israel resume fighting at the end of the first phase.
Most of Hamas’ top leadership and thousands of its fighters have been killed, but the group’s police have returned to the streets since the ceasefire began. REUTERS
