Unlock the digestive of free editor
Roula Khalaf, the FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Hamas released three Israeli men from captivity in Gaza on Saturday before an expected exchange for Palestinian prisoners later during the day after the increasingly fragile ceasefire held in the third week.
The men surrendered to the International Committee of the Red Cross in a detailed ceremony in Deir al-Balah, a relatively undamaged section of the Gaza Strip.
They were taken hostage by their homes and a music festival during the attack of the Palestinian militant band on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Ohd Ben Ami, 56, or Levy, 34, and Eli Sharabi, 52 appeared pale and thin as Hamas paraddated them along with his highly armed fighters.
“The shocking images we have seen today will not go smoothly,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to their physical condition, which was significantly worse than those issued in previous exchanges.
Shortly afterwards, Israel began the process of issuing about 180 Palestinian prisoners, as required by the conditions of the ceasefire. The vast majority were held without trial in Israeli prisons. Less than two dozen of them were serving life sentences after being convicted of attacks on the Israelis.
During the 15 months of the Israeli war in Gaza, nearly 48,000 people were killed in the besieged belt, according to local officials.
Despite the latest exchange, the ceasefire framework is increasingly under strain due to operational hiccups and public statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who have underlined his reluctance to end the war, as well as the surprise announcement of President Donald Trump this week he wanted to take control of the enclave.
On Friday Hamas delayed confirmation that the exchange would take place in the schedule – as required by the ceasefire agreement – after complaining that Israel had not allowed tens of thousands of tents and mobile houses in Gaza.
The entry of these humanitarian supplies is required by the ceasefire agreement, a person known to the details, though it is not clear when the delivery would arrive.
The need for shelter became increasingly urgent this week as winter storms overthrew the coastal enclave. About 2m people have moved there and are living in tent cities and the ruins of their neighborhoods.
The future of the ceasefire has also been questioned by Netanyahu’s promise earlier this week to resume war with Hamas, after being told that Donald Trump favors the relocation of the entire Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip.
Trump’s proposal, which would be illegal under international law and has sparked widespread anger in the Arab world, would throw Gaza from Palestinian control and force its population to neighboring countries to begin a plan of reconstruction to turned it into a “Middle East Riviera”.
The three -phase weapons bear is currently in a transition between the first and second stages, during which negotiations to end the war are supposed to occur.
In the first six-week period, Hamas was asked to issue 33 Israeli hostages including all children, women and men over 50 until Saturday, she had released 21 of them. This six -week period ends in the first week of March.
The group initially took about 250 people hostage on October 7, 2023. It issued about 120 during a short ceasefire in November 2023 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Many of the remaining hostages are thought to have died.
Last week, Hamas also released five Thai farm workers, who were taken captive during the cross -border raid that caused the war.
Hamas will only begin to leave the male soldiers who took captive and submit the hostage troops if the negotiations succeed in turning temporary ceasefire into a permanent ceasefire. This would require Israel to withdraw his forces from Gaza.
These talks would begin this week, but Israel has not yet sent any high -level team to Qatar or Egypt, which are mediation of the deal along with the US
If Netanyahu ends the war, he risks overthrowing his right -wing ruling coalition, which includes a far -right political party.
Their demands include constant combat operations, a permanent renewal of the Gaza Belt and the expulsion of its Palestinian population, which takes care of Trump’s proposal.
Hamas has rejected those plans, which were also condemned by the US Arab and European allies.
