Four Israeli female soldiers abducted by Hamas terrorists from a southern military base 477 days ago were freed on Saturday in the second hostage exchange under the ongoing Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Women — Karina Aliyev, 20 years old. Daniela Gilboa, 20 years old. Nama Levi, 20 years old. and Lili Arbag, 19, were accepted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and coordinated with Hamas to secure their extradition.
Their release came six days after the initial phase of a cease-fire took effect, halting fighting in the brutal 15-month war, and Israel released its first three hostages.
In exchange for the soldiers' release, Israel plans to hand over more than 200 Palestinian convicts from prison, some of whom are serving life sentences, according to Reuters.
Last Sunday's extradition saw the release of Emily Damali, 28, Romi Gonen, 23, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, but a ceasefire began after Hamas violated the terms of the agreement. This was after a delay of several hours.
Under the agreement, terrorist organizations must tell Israel the names of hostages scheduled for release at least 24 hours before release.
In exchange, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children.
In the latest exchanges, Israel again accused Hamas of violating the terms of the agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, terrorist organizations are required to release all female civilians first, followed by female IDF soldiers, then the elderly and sick.
On Friday, the terrorist group handed over two civilians in Gaza, Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Silverman Bivas, 33, even though they remained hostages. published the person's name.
Israel this week asked Hamas to include Yehud, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, among the prisoners to be released this weekend under the terms of the deal.
Yehud is believed to be held by the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad rather than Hamas, complicating his release, The Times of Israel reported. reportedquoting Israel's Channel 12.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials convened and informed mediators that the list violated the terms of the agreement, but decided to proceed with the exchange.
The four hostages freed on Saturday were all guards kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military base on the Gaza border during Hamas's brutal attack on October 7, 2023.
Arbag, a native of Moshav Yarkhiv in central Israel, appeared in a Hamas propaganda video released in January, saying he was “living in a nightmare” and pleading with the Israeli government to rescue him.
Al-Bagh's family said the boy wanted to become an interior designer or architect, and said the distorted footage “ripped our hearts to shreds” and called out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his fellow Israeli leaders. Regarding the fate of the hostages, he said, “I begged them to act as if they were our own children.'' I was there. ”
Another propaganda video made by the terrorist organization in January 2024 shows Gilboa from Petah Tikva and Aliyev from Jerusalem, along with Doron Steinbrecher, one of the three hostages freed on Sunday. It was reflected.
“I'm under bombing and shooting 24 hours a day. I'm very, very scared for my life,” Gilboa said in the video, which her parents said in hopes of sparking a hostage deal. This content was approved for publication in July.
Levy, a native of Raana, dreamed of working in the field of diplomacy and was a member of an organization that promotes peace between Israeli, Palestinian and American youth, according to her mother, Ayelet Levy Satchar. .
On the morning of the attack, she sent a final message to her mother that she was in a safe room, but then a gun-wielding terrorist dragged her barefoot into the back of a Jeep and tied her hands. He was seen in a disturbing Hamas video. And bloody sweatpants.
In an open letter, her mother wrote, “The video of your abduction that was broadcast to the world is an image that I cannot bear to watch,'' adding, “As a mother, it is more than I can bear.''
Harrowing bodycam footage from a Hamas gunman released last year shows four people handcuffed and bloodied against a wall as the bodies of their slain comrades surround them. The figure of a woman was shown.
In the video, the terrorists can be heard calling the women “dogs,” bragging and discussing raping them, and ordering them to pose with their captors.
The fifth abducted guard seen in the video, Agam Berger, 21, remains a hostage of the terrorist group. The sixth female soldier abducted from the Nahal Oz base was rescued by the Israel Defense Forces in October 2023, and the body of another hostage was found at the base several weeks later.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire, the two countries will continue weekly exchanges over the next five weeks, with Israel taking a total of 33 hostages, most of them alive, in exchange for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. I plan to accept it. The Jewish state believes at least a third of the approximately 90 people still being held hostage by terrorists in Gaza have died.
Israel has also withdrawn its troops to the Gaza buffer zone to allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, and humanitarian aid such as food and medicine is pouring into the war-torn region.
On the 16th day of a 42-day ceasefire, Hamas and Israel agreed to begin finalizing the details of the next phase of the deal, which broadly outlines the release of all remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. That was it.
However, the impending negotiations are fraught with deadlocks for both sides and could ultimately lead to the ceasefire agreement collapsing.
Israel has repeatedly said it will not fully withdraw from Gaza until Hamas relinquishes all military and political control in the area, but the terrorist group has not surrendered its remaining hostages until Israeli forces withdraw from the area. He claims that there is no.
The final stage of the agreement would see Hamas return the remains of the remaining hostages in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip under international supervision.
The cease-fire agreement, which had nearly collapsed at the 11th hour, brought temporary calm to the conflict sparked by Hamas's bloody surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In the attack, the terrorist group and its allies killed around 1,200 people and took a further 251 hostages back to Gaza.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing Israeli military siege, according to Hamas-run Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
with post wire