TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas members handed over four Israeli soldiers held captive on Saturday after displaying them to a crowd in the city of Gaza. Israel followed suit by releasing 200 Palestinian prisoners or detainees as part of the fragile ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
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The four soldiers looked smiling as they waved and gave a thumbs-up gesture from a stage in Palestine Square in Gaza City, flanked by fighters and in front of a crowd of thousands of people.
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Later, they were taken to the Red Cross vehicles waiting for them. They probably acted that way by force, as previously released hostages reported being held captive in brutal conditions and were forced to record propaganda videos.
The office of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, later released a video showing the freed being welcomed at an Israeli military base. One of them, Liri Albag, smiled, gave a thumbs up gesture, and formed a heart with her hand before getting into a truck.
They join the three military women released last Sunday.
On the other hand, the Israeli Prison Service later said that it had completed the release of 200 Palestinians. Among them, 120 who were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. Around 70 were released in Egypt, according to the Egyptian state television Qahera. Egypt had acted as a key mediator in the negotiations that led to the truce.
Israel demands the release of a civilian
Netanyahu's office later said that Arbel Yehoud, a civilian held by Hamas, was supposed to be released on Saturday, and pointed out that palestinians will not be allowed to start returning to the northern Gaza Strip - something that was scheduled to begin on Sunday - until that happens.
A senior Hamas official pointed out that the group has informed mediators that Yehoud will be released next week.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian official involved in the negotiations pointed out that this discrepancy was a "minor issue" and said that the mediators are working to resolve it.
Who are the liberated soldiers?
The four Israeli soldiers, Karina Ariev, aged 20; Daniella Gilboa, aged 20; Naama Levy, also 20; and Liri Albag, aged 19, were captured in the Hamas assault in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war.
The four soldiers were captured at the Nahal Oz base, near the Gaza border, during the insurgent invasion, which claimed the lives of over 60 soldiers there. The kidnapped soldiers were part of a unit tasked with monitoring threats along the border. A fifth soldier from their unit, 20-year-old Agam Berger, was captured with them but was not on the list.
In exchange, Israel agreed to release 200 prisoners, including 121 serving life sentences, according to a list released by Hamas.
The most notorious militants who were released include Mohammad Odeh, 52, and Wael Qassim, 54, both from East Jerusalem. They were accused of carrying out a series of deadly Hamas attacks against Israelis, including an attack at a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2002 that killed nine people, including five American citizens.
Out of the 70 who were expelled to Egypt, some may eventually go to other countries, after Algeria, Tunisia, and Turkey expressed their willingness to receive them, according to Abdullah al-Zaghari, the head of a Palestinian prisoners' defense group.
In a televised statement, the spokesperson of the Israeli military forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, confirmed that the freed hostages were in Israeli hands and on their way home, while criticizing what he called the “cynical display” of the young women by Hamas before their release.