
Hamas releases 4 Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners

Hamas handed over to Israel on Saturday four Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners or detainees as stipulated in their ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas militants – a group designated a terrorist by the US and EU – first paraded them through “Palestinian Square” in the center of Gaza City, before handing them over to the Red Cross, which then sent them to Israel.
Hours after Hamas released the four Israeli hostages, Israel announced the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners. They include 120 people who had been serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. About 70 of them were released in Egypt, according to Egyptian state television, Cairo TV.
Egypt served as a key mediator in the over-year-long talks that led to the ceasefire agreement.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later released a video showing the freed hostages being welcomed to an Israeli military base.
Later, Netanyahu's office said that Arbel Yehoud, a civilian barrier held by Hamas, was due to be released on Saturday. It said Israel would not allow Palestinians to begin returning to northern Gaza, as was expected to happen on Sunday, until she is released.
A senior Hamas official said the group has notified mediators that Yehoud will be released next week.
The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is intended to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between the two groups. The fragile agreement has not been violated so far, and has halted air and rocket attacks and allowed more aid to enter the small coastal territory.
Three hostages held by militants were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children, last weekend when the ceasefire came into effect.
Who are the soldiers and prisoners being released?
The four Israeli soldiers, Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20, and Albag, 19, were captured during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.
In exchange, Israel was to release 200 prisoners, including 121 serving life sentences, according to a list published by Hamas.
Among the most notorious militants being released are Mohammad Odeh, 52, and Wael Qassim, 54, both from East Jerusalem. They are accused of carrying out a series of deadly Hamas attacks against Israelis, including a bombing at a Hebrew University of Jerusalem cafeteria in 2002 that killed nine people, including five American citizens.
The four freed soldiers were captured at the Nahal Oz base near the Gaza border when Palestinian militants overran it, killing more than 60 soldiers there.
What else is expected during the ceasefire?
Israel was expected to begin withdrawing from the Netzarim corridor – an east-west road that divides Gaza in two – and allow Palestinians displaced in the south to return to their former homes in the north, for the first time since the start of the war.
But, this appears to have been suspended until Yehoud's release.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said earlier that displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza starting Sunday. The ministry, which oversees the police force, said Palestinians would be able to move between southern and northern Gaza on foot via the coastal Rashid Road.
It is unclear what will happen after the first six-week phase of the deal, but there are high hopes that it will lead to an end to the war that has devastated large parts of Gaza, displaced most of the population and left hundreds of thousands of people without food.
The war began when Hamas militants breached border barriers in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 others hostage.
More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023. Israel believes that at least a third of the more than 90 hostages still being held in Gaza were killed in the initial attack or died in captivity.

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