Photo: Collected
The Palestinian militant movement Hamas handed four female Israeli soldier hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday, live TV showed. The four were led onto a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men. They waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC vehicles that will transport them to Israeli forces.
The four are being released in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
The four soldiers - Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag - were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and abducted by Hamas fighters who overran their base during the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
One of the soldiers had been held by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian source said.
Hamas said 200 prisoners will be freed on Saturday as part of the exchange. They are expected to include members of Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), some serving life sentences.
Saturday's planned exchange will be the second since a ceasefire began on Sunday and Hamas handed over three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, has halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November 2023.
Messenger/JRTarek
