Hamas Israel hostage swap: Hamas set to release four Israeli soldier hostages in second swap

Palestinians gather as Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants prepare to release hostages who had been held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, January 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday (January 24, 2025) announced the names of four Israeli women soldiers to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the second swap under the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag would be released on Saturday, the group said.
The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release on the ceasefire’s first day last Sunday of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners, the first such exchange for more than a year.
In the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released, officials have said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for the four.
Red Cross will receive the hostages
The Red Cross will receive them from Hamas in Gaza and hand them over to Israeli forces who will transport them into Israel, where they will be reunited with family, undergo initial medical treatment and taken to hospital. Another female soldier abducted with them is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Video of the four’s abduction aired in May showed the five conscripts, pyjama-clad and stunned and some bloodied, being bound and bundled into a jeep. The footage was recovered from bodycams worn by gunmen who attacked the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel where the women served as surveillance spotters.
Editorial | Pyrrhic peace: On the Hamas-Israel ceasefire
Since the release of the three women on Sunday and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in Nov. 2023.
In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.
Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.
Published – January 24, 2025 09:32 pm IST
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