Bayaya Lobel, Nidal Al-Manbabi with Daoud Abu Alkas
JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian militant Hamas is expected to release four Israeli soldiers on Saturday in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
Dozens of masked and armed Hamas and fellow Islamic Jihad militants gathered in a square in Gaza City, where a platform had been set up, where a crowd of Palestinians had gathered. A banner hanging from the stage read in Hebrew, “Zionism will not prevail.”
All four soldiers – Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and were kidnapped by Hamas fighters who overtook their base during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
A Palestinian source said that one of the soldiers was being held by Islamic Jihad.
The Hamas Prisoners' Media Office said it expected 200 prisoners to be released on Saturday as part of the exchange, including 120 with life sentences and 80 prisoners with other long sentences.
Their identities have not yet been released, but they likely include members of armed groups convicted of deadly attacks that killed dozens of people.
A Palestinian official near the talks told Reuters that some of the prisoners released by Egypt would be released. Some of these will remain in Egypt while others may go to Algeria, Qatar or Türkiye.
Saturday's exchange will be the second since a ceasefire began on Sunday and Hamas handed over three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas on Friday identified the four hostages to be released in the second swap. But Israel has not officially commented and may not do so until it actually receives it.
The Red Cross will receive them from Hamas in Gaza and hand them over to Israeli forces who will transport them to Israel, where they will be reunited with family, undergo initial medical treatment and be transferred to hospital. Another soldier kidnapped with them is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
A video of the fourth kidnapping aired in May showed the five recruits, stunned and bloodied, being bundled into a jeep. The footage was recovered from body armor worn by militants who attacked the Nal Oz base in southern Israel where the women served as lookouts.
A phased ceasefire
A ceasefire agreement following months of negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States has stopped fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just one week in November 2023.
In the first six-stage phase of the deal, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, including children, women, older men and the sick, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, while Israeli forces retreat from some of their positions in the Gaza Strip.
At a later stage, the two sides were negotiating the exchange of remaining hostages, including men of military age, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which largely lies in ruins after 15 months of Israeli fighting and bombing.
Israel launched its Gaza campaign in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7, when the militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages into Gaza, according to the Israeli. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.
Following Sunday's 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 says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain detained in Gaza. About a third were declared dead by Israeli authorities in their absence.
