The Palestinian militant group Hamas passed four Israeli soldiers on Saturday as hostages from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The four were led to a podium in Gaza in the middle of a large number of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed members of the Hamas. The women waved and smiled before they were derived and entered ICRC vehicles that transported them to Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said it received the four in Gaza. They were released in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement to end the 15 -month -old war in Gaza.
The four soldiers – Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were all stationed on an observation post on the outskirts of Gaza and kidnapped by Hamas fighter, who overrun on October 7, 2023 during the attack on Israel.
The video of her kidnapping was broadcast in May and showed that the five conscripts, Pyjama dressed and stunned and bloody, bound and bundled into a jeep were bundled. The film material was recovered by Bodycams, which were worn by armed men who attacked the Laach OZ base in southern Israel, where women served as surveillance spotters.
After they were reunited with their families in an Israeli military base near the border between Gaza Strip, the freedom hostages should be taken to a hospital in central Israel, said the Israeli Ministry of Health.
According to Hamas, 200 prisoners will be released on Saturday as part of the exchange. This includes members of the Islamic jihads, Hamas and the popular front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP), some that serve lifelong sentences.
Egyptian state television reported that Israel has already published 70 Palestinian prisoners in Egypt.
The exchange on Saturday would be the second since the armistice began last Sunday and the Hamas presented three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
Emily Damari, 28, Doron Steinbrecher (31) and Romi Gonen (24) were the first three Israeli hostages that were released from Gaza on Sunday. Gonen was kidnapped by the Nova Music Festival, while the others were kidnapped by Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
The ceasefire agreement, which after months of one-off negotiations, which was conveyed by Qatar and Egypt and supported and supported by the United States, discontinued for the first time since a ceasefire that lasted in November 2023.
Hamas does not follow a publication plan, says Israel, says Israel
After the publication on Saturday, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a position on X that Hamas did not stop from the ceasefire agreement on the release of Israeli civilians. Israel had expected Arbel Yehoud’s release on Saturday.
Israel does not allow the Palestinians to go to the North Gaza until Yehoud is released, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We are determined to return Arbel Yehoud, a Israeli citizen kidnapped by Nir Oz (Kibbuz), and Shiri Bibas and her two children Kfir and Ariel, whose well -being we are extremely concerned,” to deal with the military spokesman for Israel . said.
A Hamas officer said Reuters that Yehoud is alive and will be released next Saturday.
In the first six -week phase of the deal, Hamas agreed to publish 33 hostages, including children, women, older men and the sick and injured, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, while Israeli troops withdraw from some of their positions in the Gaza Strip .
In a subsequent phase, the two sides negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages, including men in the military age, and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Gaza, which is largely in the ruins after 15 months of struggle and Israeli bombing.
Israel started his campaign in Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7, when militant killed 1,200 people and brought more than 250 hostages back to Gaza according to Israeli days. Since then, according to the health authorities, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.
After the publication last Sunday of the hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher and the recovery of the committee of an Israeli soldier who has been missing for a decade, Israel, 94 Israelis and foreigners remain in Gaza, although it is unclear how it is unclear how Many of them are still alive.
