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Four female Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas were with the Israeli army after they were handed over to Red Cross workers on Saturday, as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip entered its second week.
About 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are to be released as part of the agreement that ended the 15-month war. After the reconciliation was released, it took effect last Sunday Three Israeli female civilian hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The four soldiers returning to Israel – Leary Albagh, 19, Daniela Gilboa, 20, Karina Ariyev, 20, and Naama Levy, 20 – were captured from a military camp on the Israel-Gaza border in an October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. which provoked the conflict. Images and video of the bloody hostages were circulated last year. Their freedom has become the central question of the hostage-free movement, which is centered around the families of those still imprisoned in Gaza.
The march by masked Hamas militants for the Red Cross came as hundreds of uniformed and armed militants and cheering onlookers gathered in Gaza City’s Palestine Square.
The four Israeli women marched across the square to a small platform with a banner in Hebrew reading “Zionism Will Not Win.” The crowd was briefly waved off and ushered into Red Cross vehicles.
The Red Cross then took the four to a transfer site where they were handed over to Israeli special forces and intelligence agents.
A show of Hamas power unfolded in the Gaza Strip, with convoys of white pick-up trucks filled with militants waving the green Hamas flag and broadcast on Arab television stations and social media.
This second release of hostages and prisoners was momentarily in doubt after Hamas announced the release of four soldiers.
Israeli officials say this is a violation of the terms of the accord, which calls for the release of the surviving civilian women – of whom there is believed to be one remaining in captivity – ahead of the soldiers. However, the Israeli government decided to move forward, and it is unclear whether the civilian, Arbel Yehud, will be released as part of the exchange next week.
US-led mediators this month approved a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the first step in a complex three-phase deal that would end the fighting permanently and free the remaining 90 prisoners held by Hamas.
Donald Trump warned on Monday that there would be “hell to pay” if a deal was not reached before his inauguration. On Friday, the new US president said: “The deal has to go through, or there could be a lot of problems.”
Under the deal, the first phase will see 33 Israeli hostages — including children, women, the sick and the elderly — freed and nearly 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, hundreds of whom are facing lengthy prison terms on terrorism and murder charges. The releases are to be made in weekly installments for the first 42 days.
During this period, Israeli troops will withdraw from populated areas in the Palestinian territories, and displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza from Saturday. Humanitarian aid entering the Strip has increased significantly in the past week.
On the 16th of the first phase, Israel and Hamas are set to begin negotiating the details of the second phase, in which the remaining hostages will be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, further Israeli military withdrawals from Gaza, and an end to the war altogether. The final phase involves the return of the bodies of the dead hostages and the start of the reconstruction of Gaza.
