The four Israeli female soldiers, who were held by Hamas, returned in peace, in peace to Israel on Saturday after the gunmen reviewed them in front of a crowd of thousands in Gaza City and then handed them over to the Red Cross. On the other hand, Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The four Israelis smiled a wide smile waving and raising their thumb from a platform in the square of Palestine in Gaza City, and the activists were on their sides and a crowd of thousands who followed them before they were taken to the Red Cross vehicles that were waiting for them. It is likely that they were acting under coercion, as the previously released hostages said that they were seized in brutal conditions and forced to record propaganda videos.
The Israeli Prison Authority later said it had completed the release of 200 Palestinians. Among them were 121 people who were sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. About 70 of them were released to Egypt, according to the Egyptian government television channel. Egypt played the role of the main mediator in the talks that led to the armistice.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to celebrate the arrival of buses carrying prisoners. Many of them waved Palestinian flags or the flags of various political factions.
With the release of the four Israelis, hundreds of people chanted in the hostage square in Tel Aviv, where they were watching dramatic events on a large TV screen.
“I felt the chills and I watched them,” said Aviv Berkovic, one of the spectators. “I just want the war to end.”
The released hostages were transferred to an Israeli military base, where they were composed with their parents, and they could be seen in the pictures emotionally.
When they arrived with a helicopter to a hospital in Tel Aviv, thousands of people were dancing and celebrating abroad and looking to see them landing.
Israel insists on release the civil hostage
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said that Israel would not allow the displaced Palestinians to start a return to northern Gaza, which was expected to start by Sunday, because the civilian hostage that was supposed to be released Hamas was not released.
She added that Israel would not allow the Palestinians to start returning to northern Gaza, which was expected to start by Sunday, until Erbil Jews was released.
A senior Hamas official said the movement informed the brokers that Jews would be released next week.
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Meanwhile, an Egyptian official participating in the negotiations described the matter as a “secondary issue” that the mediators are to solve. The two officials spoke, provided that their identity was not disclosed because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
This is the second exchange of its kind between Israel and Hamas since the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip began last weekend. The excitement in Israel was clear, as television stations were filled with live reports of news broadcasters and smiling correspondents who interviewed with friends and relatives of the justed hostages.
The truce aims to end the bloodiest and destructive war between Israel and the armed group. The fragile agreement has so far held, as it calms the air strikes and missiles and allowed more aid to flow to the small coastal area.
When the ceasefire began on Sunday, the three hostages held by the militants were released for 90 Palestinian prisoners, all of them women and children.
Who are the soldiers and prisoners who will be released?
The four Israeli soldiers, Kareena Arif (20 years old), Daniella Gilvoua (20 years old), Nama Levy (20 years old), and Albaj (19 years old), was captured in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which ignited the war.
On the other hand, Israel agreed to release 200 prisoners, including 121, who are sentenced to life imprisonment, according to the list issued by Hamas.
Among the most famous militants were released by Muhammad Odeh, 52, and Wael Qasim, 54, both from East Jerusalem. They were accused of carrying out a series of Hamas’s deadly attacks against the Israelis, including a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2002, killing nine people, including five American citizens.
Among the seventy who were expelled to Egypt, some of them may eventually go to other countries, where Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey have expressed their willingness to receive them, according to Abdullah Al -Zaghari, head of the group of defense of Palestinian prisoners.
The four -Israeli soldiers were taken from the Nahal Oz base near the border with Gaza when it was invaded by Palestinian gunmen, killing more than 60 soldiers there. A fifth soldier was kidnapped with them in their unit called Ajam Berger, 20, but it was not inserted on the list.
“This is a huge thing,” said Radwan Abu Rawia, a resident of Gaza City, one of the thousands who saw the handing over of the hostages in Palestine Square.
He said, “People have forgotten war and destruction while they were celebrating.”
In a televised statement, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari criticized what the “satirical” show of the young women called Hamas before their release.
He also said that Israel is concerned about the fate of the two younger hostages – Kfir and Ariel Pepas – and their mother Sherry. Pepas Pepas celebrated his second birthday in captivity earlier this month.
Hajari said that the army is committed to returning all hostages to the homeland.
What is the next step in the ceasefire agreement?
Israel was expected to start withdrawing from the Netsarim Corridor-an East-West Road that divides Gaza into two parts-and allowed the displaced Palestinians in the south to return to their previous homes in the north for the first time since the beginning of the war.
But this seems to be suspended pending the release of Jews.
The Hamas Ministry of Interior said earlier that the displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to northern Gaza, starting on Sunday.
What will happen after the six -week initial stage of the deal is not certain, but many hope that this will lead to the end of the war that settled large areas of Gaza on the ground, and the vast majority of its population displaced and left hundreds of thousands of people at risk. famine.
The conflict began with a border attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and detained about 250 others as hostages.
More than 100 hostages were released in a week -long truce the following month. But dozens remained in captivity for more than a year without any contact with the outside world. Israel believes that at least a third of the prisoners who are still inside Gaza, and they are more than 90, were killed in the initial attack or died in captivity.
While many rejoiced in the hostage square in Tel Aviv after the release of the four soldiers on Saturday, some expressed concern about the fate of those who are still families.
“It is difficult to be there.”
He said: “There were five girls, four abroad and now there is alone.” “We are just waiting for her back home.”
The Israeli air and land war, one of the bloodiest and destructive wars in decades, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who did not mention the number of militants. They say women and children are more than half of the deaths.
