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Four Israeli female soldiers were being held by Hamas along with Israeli forces after being handed over to Red Cross staff on Saturday as the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip entered its second week.
About 200 Palestinian prisoners are also scheduled to be released from Israeli prisons later in the day, according to the terms of the agreement that halted more than 15 months of war. The truce entered into force last Sunday with the release Three Israeli civilian hostages And 90 Palestinian detainees.
The four soldiers who were on their way back to Israel – Liri Albag (19 years old), Daniela Gilboa (20 years old), Karina Arif (20 years old), and Naama Levy (20 years old) – were captured from a military site on the border between Israel and Gaza during an attack Hamas on October 7, 2023. Which sparked the conflict. Pictures and videos of their bloody kidnapping were broadcast last year. Their freedom has become a central demand of the hostage-release movement that has rallied around the families of those still detained in Gaza.
The handover was carried out by masked Hamas gunmen to the Red Cross in Palestine Square in Gaza City, amid a crowd of hundreds of uniformed and armed militants and cheering spectators.
The four Israeli women walked across the square to a small platform carrying a banner in Hebrew that read, “Zionism will not win.” After briefly waving to the crowd, they were escorted to Red Cross vehicles.
The Red Cross then took the four to a transfer point where they were handed over to Israeli special forces and intelligence agents.
Hamas' show of force extended to various parts of the Gaza Strip, where convoys of white pickup trucks full of gunmen appeared and raised the green Hamas flag, and was broadcast by Arab television stations and social media.
This second batch of hostage releases was temporarily thrown into doubt on Friday night after Hamas announced that four soldiers would be released.
Israeli officials claimed this was a violation of the terms of the agreement, which called for still-living civilian women – one of whom is believed to be in captivity – to be released before soldiers. However, the Israeli government has decided to move forward, and it remains unclear whether civilian Erbil Yehud will be released as part of next week's exchange deal.
US-led mediators succeeded in reaching a six-week ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas this month, the first stage of a complex three-stage agreement that could permanently end the war and secure the release of the remaining 90 hostages held by Hamas.
Donald Trump had warned that there would be a “big push” if an agreement was not reached before his inauguration on Monday. The new US president said on Friday: “The agreement must continue, but if that does not happen there will be a lot of problems.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the first stage is the release of 33 Israeli hostages – including children, women, the sick and the elderly – in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, hundreds of whom are serving long sentences on charges of terrorism and murder. The issuances are scheduled to take place in weekly installments over 42 days from the first phase.
During this period, Israeli forces will withdraw from populated areas in the torn territories and displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza starting later on Saturday. Humanitarian aid entering the Strip has increased sharply over the past week.
By the sixteenth day of Phase One, Israel and Hamas are scheduled to begin negotiating the details of Phase Two, during which the remaining living hostages will be released in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a further withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and full liberation. An end to the war. The final phase will include the return of the bodies of the deceased hostages and the start of the reconstruction of Gaza.
