Bayaya Lubell, Nidal al-Mughrabi with Dawoud Abu Alkas
Jerusalem/Cairo/Gaza (Reuters) – Hamas freed four Israeli soldiers on Saturday in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners in Gaza’s second swap to the bombed-out north.
The four freed Israelis were led to a podium in the city of Gaza amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of Hamas armed forces. They waved and smiled before being led away and entering Red Cross vehicles to transport to Israeli forces.
Soon after, buses carrying free Palestinian prisoners were dropped off from the Israeli military prison in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s prison service said all 200 had been released.
The releases on both sides were greeted by cheering crowds, including in Tel Aviv and Palestinians gathering in Ramallah.
But Hamas’s failure to release another hostage, an Israeli female Israeli civilian, led Israel to announce that it was halting plans to return Palestinians to the northern parts of Gaza, the worst-hit area in the war. Hamas said it would free them next week and called the halt to the north’s reopening a violation of the ceasefire.
The ceasefire calls for Hamas to release 33 women, children, elderly, sick and wounded hostages in a six-week first phase, with Israel freeing 30 prisoners for every civilian and 50 for every soldier.
The four Israeli soldiers who were freed on Saturday – Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were on Israel that started the war.
Her parents clapped and shouted with joy as they saw her on the screen, watching the handover live across the border from a nearby military base. In Tel.
The women were reunited with their families and then flown aboard helicopters to a hospital in central Israel. Video released by the Israeli military showed them hugging their parents closely with smiles and tears.
The 200 Palestinians freed on Saturday included militants, some serving life sentences for involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people, according to a list released by Hamas.
Israel says those convicted of murdering Israelis will not be allowed to return home. Around 70 will be deported to Egypt, Palestinian officials said, and from there to another country, possibly Turkey, Qatar or Algeria.
Another 16 were sent to Gaza and the rest were released into the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where cheering crowds waving Palestinian flags gathered in Ramallah to greet them.
DISPUTE
Joy in Israel over Saturday’s release was marred by disappointment after it emerged that 29-year-old Arbel Yehud, who was abducted with her boyfriend from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, was not among those released on Saturday.
An Israeli military spokesman called it a ceasefire violation, while Hamas said it was a technical problem. A Hamas official said the group told mediators that it was alive and would be freed next Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians in Gaza will not be allowed to return to the northern part of the territory until the issue is resolved.
Palestinian officials said up to 650,000 displaced people were waiting to return north under the ceasefire starting Sunday. Witnesses said there was a stampede on a road leading to the north that was blocked by Israeli troops who opened fire.
Medics said one person was killed there by suspected Israeli fire, one of only a handful of deaths reported since the ceasefire began. Two others were injured. Reuters sought comment from the Israeli military on the incident.
Thousands of people were massed with their belongings along the coastal road where they said an Israeli tank continued to block the road north.
“I won’t go back to the tent,” Zaki Kasef, 26, waited on the coastal road to return north from Deir al-Balah, where he has been sheltering from his family for more than a year, told Reuters via a chat app. “Where are the mediators? Why can’t they force Israel to respect the deal?”
The ceasefire agreement, drawn up after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and aided and abetted by the United States, has halted fighting for the first time in more than a year.
As of Saturday’s release, 90 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities, who have declared around a third of them dead in absentia.
Twenty-six are still slated for release in the first phase, after which the sides will negotiate the remainder, including men of military age and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Families of hostages to be released in later stages fear the ceasefire could collapse first. Some Israelis critical of the ceasefire say Israel must resume fighting to prevent Hamas from returning to power in Gaza. Hamas says it won’t free all of the hostages until the war finally ends.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7, when militants killed 1,200 people and brought more than 250 hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities. More than 400 Israeli soldiers have also died in the Gaza Strip.
