Hamas-led militants released three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli civilian men they held for the past 16 months on Saturday, and Israel was freeing dozens of Palestinian prisoners as a part of a fragile agreement that has paused the war within the Gaza Strip.
Before a crowd of lots of, armed Hamas fighters led Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34, onto a stage, where they were forced to make a public statement before being handed over to the Red Cross.
The three were amongst about 250 people abducted throughout the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. They seemed to be in much poorer physical condition than any of the 18 other hostages released to date throughout the ceasefire that began Jan. 19.
Hostages’ condition sparks concern
The hostages’ emaciated condition and the stage-managed ceremony — a departure from previous hostage releases where the captives weren’t made to talk — sparked outrage in Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “we won’t accept the shocking scenes” that played out. The statement didn’t lay out punitive measures.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the “difficult scenes” were reason to increase the truce with Hamas and produce home the handfuls of remaining hostages.
In an apparent response to concerns over the released hostages’ health, Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, claimed it had “made efforts to preserve their lives despite the (Israeli) bombardment.”
Many Palestinians released from Israeli jails throughout the ceasefire have also appeared gaunt and pale, and have alleged abuses and mistreatment in Israeli custody.
The present phase of the truce, which runs until early March, doesn’t appear to have been affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s stunning proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, welcomed by Israel but vehemently rejected by the Palestinians and many of the international community.
Nevertheless it could complicate talks over the second and harder phase, when Hamas is to release dozens more hostages in return for a long-lasting ceasefire. Hamas could also be reluctant to free more captives — and lose its primary bargaining chip — if it believes the U.S. and Israel are serious about depopulating the territory, which rights groups say would violate international law.
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This was the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners throughout the ceasefire. Before Saturday, 18 hostages and greater than 550 Palestinian prisoners had been freed.
The gaunt appearance of the three hostages “evoke the horrifying pictures from the liberation of the camps in 1945, the darkest chapter of our history,” said the Hostages Families Forum, a gaggle representing relatives of many of the captives. “We’ve got to get all the hostages out of hell. There may be no more delays.”
The primary phase of the ceasefire calls for the discharge of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and a rise in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory. Last week, wounded Palestinians were allowed to go away Gaza for Egypt for the primary time since May.
Who was released on Saturday?
Sharabi and Ben Ami were each captured from Kibbutz Beeri, one among the hardest-hit farming communities, throughout the Hamas-led attack. Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where he was taking shelter in a protected room when the militants arrived.
Sharabi’s wife and two teenage daughters were killed within the attack. His brother Yossi was also abducted and died in captivity. Levy’s wife was killed throughout the attack and his now 3-year-old son has been cared for by relatives.
It’s unclear whether either man knows about what happened to their families.
Ben Ami, a father of three, was kidnapped along with his wife, Raz, who was released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Relatives of the hostages cheered, clapped and cried as they watched live footage of their family members being released.
Levy’s brother, Michael, said his brother’s young son, Almog, was already told his father was on his way.
“Mogi, we found daddy,” Michael Levy said he told the boy, using his nickname, in an interview with Israeli Channel 12. “We haven’t seen happiness like that in him for a very long time.”
The 183 Palestinian prisoners being released by Israel on Saturday include 18 people serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, 54 serving long-term sentences and 111 Palestinians from Gaza who were detained after the Oct. 7 attack but not tried for any crime. All are men are aged between 20 and 61.
Virtually every Palestinian has a friend, relative or acquaintance who has been imprisoned.
Greater than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Greater than 70 are still in Gaza, and Israel has said 34 of those are believed to be dead. Israel says Hamas has confirmed eight of the 33 to be released throughout the first phase of the truce are dead.
Ceasefire’s next phase is uncertain
It is just not clear whether Israel and Hamas have begun negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and increasing the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached.
Israel says it remains to be committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza inside hours of the ceasefire. A key far-right partner in Netanyahu’s coalition is asking for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
Hamas says it won’t release remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Within the Oct. 7 attack, some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. Greater than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air and ground war, over half of them women and youngsters, in accordance with Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how lots of the dead were militants.
The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential neighborhoods.
Senior militants amongst Palestinian prisoners set for release
Of the 72 prisoners being released Saturday, five are from east Jerusalem, 14 from the Gaza Strip and the remaining 53 from the occupied West Bank. Seven are to be transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.
A complete of 47 prisoners were being freed Saturday from Ofer prison within the West Bank, and transferred to Palestinian custody near Ramallah where scores of relatives, friends and supporters welcomed a few of them cheering and clapping. One extremely frail-looking prisoner was loaded directly from a bus into an ambulance for emergency treatment.
The Palestinian security prisoners were detained over offenses starting from bomb attacks to involvement in militant organizations, in some cases dating back many years.
They include Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been locked up for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas attacks in crowded civilian areas that killed dozens of Israelis throughout the Palestinian rebellion of the early 2000s. That included a notorious 2004 suicide bus bombing in Israel’s southern desert city of Beersheba that killed 16 people, including a 4-year-old.
One other is Jamal al-Tawil, a distinguished Hamas politician within the occupied West Bank and former mayor of the village of al-Bireh, abutting Ramallah.
He has spent nearly twenty years out and in of Israeli jail, with the military reporting his last arrest in 2021 over his alleged participation in violent riots and efforts to entrench Hamas’ leadership within the West Bank. He was transferred to administrative detention, a repeatedly renewable six-month period through which suspects are held for free of charge or trial.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem within the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for his or her future state.
