Hamas releases four Israeli hostages in second swop of Gaza deal
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Four female Israeli soldier hostages waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC vehicles that will transport them to Israeli forces.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA – The Palestinian militant movement Hamas released four female Israeli soldier hostages on Jan 25, in return for some 200 Palestinian prisoners, in keeping with a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war
The four were led onto a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men.
They waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) vehicles that would transport them to Israeli forces.
The four soldiers – Ms Karina Ariev, Ms Daniela Gilboa, Ms Naama Levy and Ms Liri Albag – were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and abducted by Hamas fighters who overran their base during the attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
Their parents, watching the handover live from a nearby military base across the border, clapped and cried out in joy when they saw them on screen.
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis gathered at the so-called Hostages Square, crying, embracing and cheering as it was aired on a giant screen. They were reunited with their family soon after, according to the military, and will be taken to a hospital in central Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
Photos published by the Israeli military showed them embracing tightly with their parents, in smiles and tears.
Buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners were seen departing from Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank, soon after the Israeli hostages were freed.
Israel’s Prison Service said all 200 prisoners have been released.
Four female Israeli soldiers are released by Hamas militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swop deal between Hamas and Israel, on Jan 25.
PHOTO: REUTERS
They include convicted militants serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people, according to a list published by Hamas.
Around 70 will be deported to Egypt, another 16 sent to Gaza and the remaining prisoners will be released to the West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
The Jan 25 planned exchange was the second since a ceasefire began on Jan 19 and Hamas handed over three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners
But the joy in Israel was clouded by disappointment after a female civilian hostage who was expected to be freed on Jan 25 was not.
Ms Arbel Yehud, 29, was abducted with her boyfriend from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, on Oct 7, 2023.
An Israeli military spokesman said it was a breach of the truce, while Hamas said it was a technical issue. A Hamas official said the group had informed mediators that she was alive and will be released on Feb 1.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians in Gaza will not be allowed to cross back to the northern part of the territory until the issue is resolved.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been displaced from northern Gaza during the war, and many were expecting to return from Jan 26.
A Palestinian official told Reuters that the mediators were working on resolving the matter.
Ceasefire
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the US, has halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November 2023.
In the first six-week phase of the deal, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages, including children, women, older men and the sick and injured, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, while Israeli troops pull back from some of their positions in the Gaza Strip.
In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages, including men of military age, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and bombardment.
After Jan 25’s release, 90 hostages remain in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities, who have declared around a third of them dead in absentia.
Families of hostages who are not included in the first phase are concerned that the ceasefire will break down before it reaches the next stages and that their loved ones will be left behind.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza
Since then, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the health authorities there.
Israel has lost more than 400 soldiers in Gaza combat. Hamas has not revealed how many fighters it has lost. Israel estimates that more than a third of Gaza’s death toll are militants. REUTERS
