Hamas is ready to release four Israeli military hostages, according to Reuters
By Mayan Lubel, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawud Abu Alkas
JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – The Palestinian militant group Hamas is expected to release four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire deal to end the 15-month war in Gaza.
Dozens of masked and armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters gathered in a square in Gaza City as Palestinians gathered in the square where a platform had been set up. A banner hung from the stage read “Zionism will not win” in Hebrew.
The four soldiers – Karina Ariyev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Leary Albagh – were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and were abducted by Hamas fighters who stormed their base in an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
One of the soldiers was captured by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian source said.
According to the Hamas Prisoners’ Media Office, 200 prisoners are expected to be released as part of the exchange on Saturday, including 120 sentenced to life imprisonment and 80 others to long terms.
Their identities have not yet been released, but they may include members of militant groups convicted of the deadly attack that killed dozens of people.
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations told Reuters that some of the released prisoners would be released to Egypt. Some will stay in Egypt, while others may go to Algeria, Qatar or Turkey.
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 released the four hostages in a second exchange on Friday. But Israel has not made an official comment and may not give it until it receives them properly.
The Red Cross receives them from Gaza’s Hamas, hands them over to the Israeli army and transports them to Israel, where they are reunited with their families, given first aid and taken to hospital. Another female soldier who was abducted with them is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
A video of the four abductions, released in May, shows the five pajama-clad conscripts, shocked and some bloodied, tied and bundled into a jeep. The footage was obtained from body cameras worn by gunmen who attacked the Nahal Oz station in southern Israel while the women were acting as interrogators.
Finished shooting fire
A months-long ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States ended the war for the first time in November 2023 after just one week of negotiations.
In the first six-week deal, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages — including children, women, the elderly and the sick and injured — and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, but the Israeli military backed off from some of them. Their place in the Gaza Strip.
In the next phase, the two sides will negotiate an exchange of remaining hostages, including Gaza, which the Israeli army has dismantled after 15 months of war and Israeli bombardment.
Israel launched its operation in Gaza following an October 7 attack by Hamas, in which militants killed 1,200 people and returned more than 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli officials. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health officials there.
After hostages Romi Gonen, Emilie Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were freed on Sunday and the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade was returned, Israel said 94 Israelis and foreigners remain in Gaza. In their absence, one-third are said to have died by Israeli officials.