Hamas on Saturday released four female Israeli soldiers held hostage in the Gaza Strip. The ceremony was the latest sign of the group's efforts to assert its power despite Israel's 470-day military campaign to remove female soldiers.
This is the second hostage release as part of a ceasefire agreement that took effect nearly a week ago. Pursuant to the agreement, Israel on Saturday released 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
A convoy of white buses carrying prisoners departs Ofer prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Prisoners were also released from another facility near Beersheba in southern Israel, Israeli prison authorities said.
Many of the 200 prisoners released on Saturday were serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks against Israelis. About 70 people have been expelled as part of the deal and will not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority.
But Saturday's exchange of prisoners and hostages did not go completely to plan. Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of violating the agreement by not first returning captured Israeli civilians. Under the agreement, Israeli hostage Albel Yehud in the Gaza Strip was to be one of four women released on Saturday, Israeli officials said.
After Saturday's exchanges, Israel was expected to withdraw some of its troops to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to head north. However, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said it would not allow Gaza residents to move north “until the release of civilian Albel Yehud has been arranged,” leaving the timing of the withdrawal of troops and the return of residents unclear.
Hamas accused Israel of reluctance to fully implement the ceasefire agreement. The conflict has been one of the most serious between the parties since the ceasefire went into effect.
Israeli officials have said they do not believe Ms. Yehud is being held by Hamas, suggesting she may be held by another faction, and saying Hamas is not solely responsible for her incarceration. Ta.
The four Israeli hostages freed by Hamas on Saturday were wearing military-style clothing, but at the time of their capture they were working as lookouts for the Israeli military and reporting suspicious activity across the border. In a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, militants stormed Israel's Nahal Oz military base, killing more than 50 soldiers and abducting four women and three other female soldiers. .
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants ceased on the morning of Sunday, January 19th. The first three women hostages taken in the 2023 attack were released on Sunday in exchange for 90 other victims. Palestinian prisoners held in Israel were released hours later.
The current ceasefire phase lasts just 42 days, and of the approximately 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, only 33 have been released, several of whom are believed to be dead. Extending the ceasefire faces major diplomatic hurdles. Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement by postponing their most intractable conflict until a vague “second phase” that may be difficult to negotiate.
At Saturday's hostage handover ceremony, armed Hamas fighters with their faces covered and in spotless uniforms escorted the four hostages to a stage in Palestine Square in central Gaza City. They were then handed over to Red Cross representatives.
The stage-managed ceremony was apparently intended to convey Hamas's strength and control in Gaza, but it also included some uncomfortable juxtapositions.
In the background of the handover were large banners printed with slogans, one of which described Palestine in English as “the victory of Nazi Zionism over the oppressed.”
The ceremony was held in an area devastated by Israeli bombing and ground invasions, with hundreds of uniformed fighters and civilians gathered nearby. Hamas fighters were showered with confetti.
The hostages waved with incongruous smiles as onlookers cheered and whistled. Israeli officials have said in the past that Hamas forces hostages to adopt a cheerful demeanor to suggest they are being treated well.
Israeli military spokesman General Hagari derided the ceremony as “cynical”.
Hamas “came under the false pretense of caring for the hostages, but in reality they brutally held the men and women for 477 days,” Hagari said.
Before the four hostages were released, Hamas held a signing ceremony on stage between one of its members and a representative of the Red Cross. The hostages were then taken by the Red Cross to Israeli forces stationed in the area.
Two Israeli military helicopters transported the hostages to Beilinson Hospital in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva, to the excited cheers of hundreds of people who had gathered to welcome their arrival with Israeli flags.
“We wanted to show the hostages and their families how much we care about them,” said Helena Dabush, 42, who lives nearby and brought her four children. spoke.
All of the freed hostages were teenagers and recent military recruits when they were abducted. Karina Aliyev, now 20 years old, is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants. Daniela Gilboa (20) is an aspiring concert pianist from central Israel. Naama Levi, 20, is a triathlete who grew up in a town north of Tel Aviv. 19-year-old Lili Albag is an aspiring architect and interior designer.
There was also jubilation in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered at City Hall to welcome released Palestinian prisoners of war and hug their loved ones as they disembarked from Red Cross buses. did.
The freed prisoners, some still wearing gray uniforms believed to have been issued by Israeli prison authorities, were carried on the shoulders of chanting crowds.
“We are out of prison, but the price of freedom is high,” Mohammad Alda, one of the released prisoners, told reporters as family and friends crowded around him. “My thoughts are with the families of the inmates we have lost over the past year and a half.”
Most of the 90 prisoners Israel released nearly a week ago were women and minors. This time, Israeli authorities released a number of people convicted of more serious crimes, including the murder of Israeli civilians.
According to the Israeli government, Arda, an activist with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, was sentenced to life in prison on charges including attempted murder and planting explosives. He was one of six prisoners who briefly escaped from an Israeli prison in 2021, surprising Israelis and Palestinians before being arrested.
More than 1,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are to be released as part of the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement. Hamas has promised to free the 33 hostages. Israeli officials say 97 people – the Israeli military believes about a third of them are dead – were being held in Gaza when the deal went into effect last Sunday.
About 120 of the Palestinian prisoners released on Saturday were serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks on Israelis, according to a list provided by the Hamas-affiliated prisoners' office. Those released Saturday included Mohammad Odeh, Wael Qassim and Wissam Abbasi, who were arrested in 2002 for a series of bombings targeting Israelis in crowded civilian areas. All three were serving life sentences.
One of the group's most notorious attacks occurred at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, killing nine people, including five Americans.
Under the terms of the agreement, the three are among those scheduled for deportation and will never be allowed to return to their homeland in Jerusalem.
It remained unclear on Saturday when displaced Palestinians living in southern and central Gaza would be able to return to neighboring areas in the north, many of which have been destroyed by Israeli bombing.
Blocked Israeli withdrawals have left many Palestinians anxiously waiting as they have already begun packing up their belongings, including kitchen utensils, clothing and mattress pads.
“My husband and I have been looking forward to this day with great anticipation, but we are scared to think of the massive destruction we will see on our way home,” said Nour Qasim, 22, originally from Gaza City. said. .
The ceasefire was brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, as well as representatives from both the incoming Biden and Trump administrations. It was a rare example of high-profile cooperation between the two teams, but on Friday, the differences in how the two sides viewed the conflict became clear.
The Trump administration announced last summer that it would proceed with shipping a 2,000-pound bomb to Israel, but then-President Joseph R. Canceled. The Israeli military did so anyway.
The shipment contained 1,800 MK-84 bombs, according to a White House official who agreed to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive weapons assistance. Such bombs are generally judged by U.S. military officers to be too lethal and destructive for urban combat. Until the suspension, the Biden administration was shipping bombs to Israel as the Israeli military battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Report contributor: Fatima Abdulkarim, Afif Amire, natan odenheimer, Rawan Sheikh AhmadBilal Shubair Aritz Para and Edward Wong.