Israel and Hamas Are Set to Swap More Hostages for Prisoners in Another Test of the Gaza Ceasefire

NEWSMAX | Published January 25, 2025

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Hamas were expected to swap more hostages for Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, the second such exchange since a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip last weekend and another test for the deal.

The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the militant group. The fragile deal has so far held, quieting airstrikes and rockets and allowing for increased aid to flow into the tiny coastal territory.

When the ceasefire started Sunday, three hostages held by the militants were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners. On Saturday, four hostages are expected to be freed for 200 prisoners, including 120 who are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis. They will likely be released into Gaza or sent abroad.

The four Israeli soldiers, Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; and Liri Albag, 19, were captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war.

They were taken from Nahal Oz base near the border with Gaza when Palestinian militants overran it, killing more than 60 soldiers there. The female abductees had all served in a unit of lookouts charged with monitoring threats along the border. A fifth female soldier in their unit, Agam Berger, 20, was abducted with them but not included in the list.

After the swap, Israel is expected to begin pulling back from the Netzarim corridor — an east-west road dividing Gaza in two — and allowing displaced Palestinians in the south to return to their former homes in the north for the first time since the beginning of the war.

Palestinians will only be allowed to move north on foot, with vehicular traffic restricted until later in the ceasefire.

What happens after the deal’s initial six-week phase is uncertain, but many hope it will lead to the end of a war that has leveled wide swaths of Gaza, displaced the vast majority of its population, and left hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine.

The conflict began with a cross-border attack led by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 others hostage.

More than 100 hostages were freed in a weeklong truce the following month. But dozens have remained in captivity for over a year with no contact with the outside world. Israel believes at least a third of the more than 90 captives still inside Gaza were killed in the initial attack or died in captivity.

Israel’s air and ground war, one of the deadliest and most destructive in decades, has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were militants. They say women and children make up more than half the fatalities.

 

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SOURCE: www.newsmax.com

RELATED:  Hamas frees 4 female Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners as ceasefire holds

Israeli female soldier hostages wave and react at a Palestinian crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
THE SEATTLE TIMES | Published January 25, 2025

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Four female Israeli soldiers who were taken in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza returned safely to Israel on Saturday after Hamas militants paraded them before a crowd of thousands in Gaza City and handed them over to the Red Cross. Israel later released 200 Palestinian prisoners in the second exchange of a fragile ceasefire.

The four Israelis smiled, waved and gave the thumbs-up from a stage in Palestine Square, with militants on either side as Hamas again sought to show it remained in control in Gaza after 15 months of war. The hostages likely acted under duress, with previously released ones saying they were held in brutal conditions and forced to record propaganda videos.

Israel’s Prison Service later said it had completed the release of 200 Palestinians. They included 121 people who were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis, while others had been held without charge. Around 70 were released into Egypt, according to Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV. Egypt is a key mediator in ceasefire talks.

In the ceasefire’s first major crisis, Israel said it would not allow displaced Palestinians to begin returning to northern Gaza as had been expected by Sunday, because a civilian hostage who was supposed to be released, Arbel Yahoud, had not been freed. As mediators addressed that, hundreds of Palestinians gathered, waiting to move north.

“Open the way for us to return. That’s enough,” said one man, Khalil Abd.

Thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah celebrated the arrival of buses carrying the prisoners. Some prisoners wore Hamas headbands given to them by the jostling crowd. Wan-looking and wearing gray prison sweatsuits, some rode on the shoulders of supporters.

In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, hundreds of people cheered while watching the release of the four Israelis.

“I had goosebumps watching them,” said onlooker Aviv Bercovich. “I just want the war to end.”

The freed hostages were taken to an Israeli army base, where they embraced loved ones. As they arrived by helicopter near a Tel Aviv hospital, thousands of people danced and celebrated outside.

Israel insists on the release of civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel would not allow Palestinians to begin returning to northern Gaza until Yehoud, a civilian taken from a kibbutz, was freed.

A senior Hamas official said the group informed mediators that Yehoud will be released next week.

An Egyptian official involved in the negotiations called the matter a “minor issue” that mediators were working to resolve. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The ceasefire began last weekend and is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas. The deal has so far held, quieting airstrikes and rockets and allowing for increased aid to flow into tiny, devastated Gaza.

When the ceasefire started Sunday, three hostages were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children.

 

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SOURCE: www.seattletimes.com

 

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