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Four female Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hamas have returned to Israel while 200 Palestinian prisoners were released on Saturday as part of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza that halted more than 15 months of war.
The truce went into effect last Sunday with the release of three Israeli female civilian hostages and 90 Palestinian detainees.
The four soldiers — Liri Albag, 19, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Karina Ariev, 20, and Naama Levy, 20 — were seized from a military outpost on the Israel-Gaza border during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the conflict. Their freedom became a central demand of the hostage release movement that coalesced around the families of those still held captive in Gaza.
Hamas gunmen initially handed over the group to Red Cross personnel in Gaza City’s Palestine Square, amid a rally of hundreds of uniformed and armed militants and cheering onlookers waving the group’s green flag.
The four Israeli women were marched across the square and on to a small stage bearing a banner, in Hebrew, that read “Zionism will not win”. After briefly waving to the crowd they were ushered into Red Cross vehicles.
The Red Cross drove the four to a transfer point where they were handed over to Israeli special forces and intelligence agents who then returned them to Israeli territory. The women were later flown by helicopter to a hospital in the centre of the country, where they will remain among family for the coming days as they receive medical care.
After their arrival in Israel, 200 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails — the majority to the occupied West Bank, 20 to Gaza and several dozen to Egypt where they were expected to leave for exile in a third country.
“Today we forced the criminal occupier to open the doors of his prison cells to our heroic prisoners,” Hamas said. “This is our pledge to them for freedom, and to our people to continue walking together on the path of independence and self-determination.”
This second instalment of the hostage-prisoner release was momentarily thrown into doubt on Friday night after Hamas announced that four soldiers would be released.
Israeli officials claimed that this was a violation of the agreement’s terms that calls for civilian women still alive — of which there is believed to be one remaining in captivity — to be released ahead of soldiers. The Israeli government nevertheless decided to move ahead, and it remains unclear whether the civilian, Arbel Yehud, will be released as part of next week’s exchange.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that until the matter of her release was “put in order”, it would not allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza — a move that was expected to begin later on Saturday.
Daniel Hagari, Israeli military spokesperson, said that: “We appreciate and thank the efforts of all international mediators . . . we expect them to make sure that Hamas stands in accordance with the agreement.”
US-led mediators secured a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas this month, the first stage of a complex three-stage agreement that could permanently end the war and secure the release of the remaining 90 hostages held by Hamas.
Donald Trump had warned that there would be “all hell to pay” if an agreement had not been reached before his inauguration on Monday. On Friday, the new US president said: “The deal should hold, but if it doesn’t there will be a lot of problems.”
The first stage of the agreement consists of the release of 33 Israeli hostages — including children, women, the sick and elderly — in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, hundreds of which are serving lengthy sentences on terrorism and murder charges. The releases are due to take place in weekly instalments over the 42 days of the first stage.
During this time, Israeli troops will withdraw from populated areas in the shattered territory and displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes. Humanitarian aid entering the strip has already increased sharply over the past week.
By day 16 of the first phase, Israel and Hamas are due to start negotiating details of the second phase, when the remaining living hostages will be freed in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a further withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaz and a complete end to the war. The final phase will involve the return of bodies of dead hostages and the beginning of Gaza’s reconstruction.
