By Maayan Lubell, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas, Reuters
Four Israeli hostages wave on a stage before Hamas fighters hand them over to a team from the Red Cross in Gaza City. Photo: AFP / Omar Al-Qattaa
- Releases are part of ceasefire's first phase
- Soldiers being released were at observation post near Gaza
- 200 Palestinian prisoners expected to be released
The Palestinian militant movement Hamas has released four female Israeli soldier hostages, in return for some 200 Palestinian prisoners, in keeping with a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
The four were led onto a podium in Gaza City on Saturday (local time) amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men. They waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC vehicles and being transported to Israeli forces.
The soldiers - Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and 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 Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
Their parents clapped and cried out in joy when they saw them on screen, watching the handover live from a nearby military base across the border. 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 would be taken to a hospital in central Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
The joy in Israel was clouded by disappointment after a female civilian hostage who was expected to be freed on Saturday, was not. An Israeli military spokesman said it was a breach of the truce, while Hamas said it was a technical issue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that 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.
A Palestinian official told Reuters that the mediators were working on resolving the matter.
Prisoners
Hamas said 200 prisoners would be freed on Saturday as part of the exchange. They include convicted militants serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people. Around 70 are set to be deported, Hamas said.
Saturday's planned exchange was the second since a ceasefire began on 19 January and Hamas handed over three Israeli female civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, 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 Saturday's release, 90 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities, who have declared around a third of them dead in absentia.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, when militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to 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 is militants.
- Reuters
