In the most recent phase of a ceasefire agreement intended to put an end to the 15-month conflict in Gaza, Israel started releasing scores of Palestinians on Saturday, while Palestinian group Hamas turned over three Israeli prisoners, whose thin appearance startled Israelis.
Gunmen escorted Or Levy, who had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who had been taken captive from Kibbutz Be’eri during the cross-border attack organized by Hamas, onto a Hamas platform.
The three men all appeared thin, weak and pale, and in worse condition.
In another show of force by Hamas, which has paraded fighters during previous releases, dozens of its fighters deployed in central Gaza as it handed hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
They were then driven in ICRC vehicles to Israeli forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the sight of the frail hostages forced into an apparent staged interview by Hamas was shocking and would be addressed.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog described the release ceremony as cynical and vicious.
In exchange for the hostages’ release, Israel is freeing 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people, as well as 111 detained in Gaza during the war.
In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a bus carrying 42 freed Palestinian prisoners was welcomed by a cheering crowd.
For families of the Israeli hostages who have been held incommunicado in Gaza for more than a year, the wait has been a rollercoaster of dread and hope as the moments of reunion drew near.
The Hostage Families Forum compared the images of the three hostages to survivors of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
The exchange is the latest in a series of swaps that have so far returned 13 Israeli and five Thai hostages abducted during the Hamas attack and released 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Despite hiccups, a 42-day ceasefire and hostage-for-prisoner exchange worked out with US backing and mediation by Egypt and Qatar has held up since it took effect nearly three weeks ago.
But fears the deal might collapse before all the hostages are free have grown since US President Donald Trump’s surprise call for Palestinians to be moved from Gaza and for the enclave to be handed to the United States and developed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Hamas said in a statement that the crowds and armed display at the hostage handover demonstrated the Palestinians’ rejection of Trump’s plan and showed Hamas could not be excluded in post-war Gaza arrangements.
Arab states and Palestinian groups have rejected Trump’s proposal, which critics said would amount to ethnic cleansing.
Under the ceasefire deal, 33 Israeli children, women and sick, wounded and older men are to be released during an initial phase in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Negotiations on a second phase began this week aimed at returning the remaining hostages and agreeing a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in preparation for a final end to the war.
