Hostage exchange in Gaza | Hamas’ show of force

(Jerusalem) Hamas released four Israeli soldiers held hostage in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in a choreographed ceremony, the latest manifestation yet of the group’s efforts to project an image of power despite the 470-year military campaign days carried out by Israel to dislodge him.

It was the second release of hostages under a ceasefire agreement that took effect almost a week earlier. In accordance with this agreement, Israel on Saturday released 200 Palestinian prisoners who were being held in Israeli prisons.

A line of white buses carrying prisoners left Ofer prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Prisoners were also released from another facility near Beersheba in southern Israel, the Israeli Prison Service said.

Most of the 200 prisoners released Saturday were serving life sentences for participating in attacks against Israelis. About 70 of them are exiled abroad under the deal and will not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to a list provided by Palestinian authorities.

The exchange of prisoners and hostages which took place on Saturday, however, did not go as planned. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, accused Hamas of violating the agreement by not first returning captive Israeli civilians. Israeli officials said that under the terms of the deal, Arbel Yehud, an Israeli held hostage in Gaza, should have been among four women released Saturday.

Israel was expected to withdraw some of its forces to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to head north after Saturday’s exchange. But the Israeli prime minister’s office said it would not allow Palestinians to head north “until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud has been arranged,” raising doubts on the timetable for the withdrawal of troops and the return of residents.

Hamas accused Israel of procrastinating over the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. This dispute is one of the most important between the parties since the ceasefire came into force.

Israeli officials have argued that Yehud may not have been held by Hamas, suggesting that she may have been held by another party and that Hamas was therefore not necessarily solely responsible for the delay.

The four Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Saturday, who wore military-style clothing, were assigned to lookout duty by the Israeli army at the time of their capture. Their task was to report any suspicious activity on the other side of the border. In the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, militants stormed the Nahal Oz military base in Israel, killing more than 50 soldiers and kidnapping the four women and three other soldiers.

Hostage release phase

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas militants ceased on the morning of Sunday January 19. The first hostages, three women kidnapped in the 2023 attack, were released on Sunday in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, who were released hours later.

The current phase of the ceasefire, which is only expected to last 42 days, provides for the release of 33 of the approximately 100 hostages still present in Gaza, some of whom are believed to have died. The extension of the ceasefire faces significant diplomatic obstacles.

Israel and Hamas reached the deal in part by postponing their thorniest differences until a vaguely described “second phase,” which could be difficult to negotiate.

During the hostage release ceremony on Saturday, armed Hamas fighters dressed in immaculate uniforms with their faces covered escorted the four hostages to a stage in Palestine Square in the center of Gaza City. . They were then handed over to a representative of the Red Cross.

Before the release of the four hostages, Hamas organized a signing ceremony on stage between one of its members and a representative of the Red Cross. The hostages were then taken by the Red Cross to Israeli troops stationed in the territory.

Two Israeli helicopters transported the hostages to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, a town in central Israel, to the enthusiastic cheers of hundreds of people gathered to greet their arrival with Israeli flags.

“We wanted to show the hostages and their families how much we care,” said Helena Dabush, 42, who lives nearby and brought her four children.

The released hostages were all young adults who had just been drafted into the army when they were kidnapped. Karina Ariev, now 20, is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants; Daniella Gilboa, 20, from central Israel, aspires to become a concert pianist; Naama Levy, 20, is a triathlete who grew up in a town north of Tel Aviv, Israel; finally, Liri Albag, 19, aspires to become an architect and interior designer.

Celebrations in the occupied West Bank

Jubilation also reigned in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered at a municipal building to welcome freed Palestinian prisoners and jostled to catch their loved ones as they disembarked from Red Cross buses .

Some released prisoners, still wearing the gray uniforms issued by Israeli prison authorities, were carried on the shoulders of the chanting crowd.

“We are leaving our prison, but the price to pay for our freedom is high,” Mohammad Arda, one of the released prisoners, told reporters as family and friends crowded around him.

The 90 prisoners released almost a week earlier by Israel were mostly women and minors. This time around, Israeli authorities released many people who had been convicted of much more serious crimes, including the murder of Israeli civilians.

According to the Israeli government, Arda, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad activist, was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder and planting an explosive device, among other charges. He was one of six prisoners who briefly escaped from an Israeli prison in 2021, stunning Israelis and Palestinians, before being recaptured.

More than 1,500 Palestinian detainees are expected to be released by Israel under the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement. Hamas committed to freeing 33 hostages; 97 – about a third of whom died, according to the Israeli army – were detained in Gaza when the agreement entered into force on January 19, according to Israeli authorities.

About 120 of the Palestinian prisoners released Saturday were serving life sentences for participating in attacks against Israelis, according to lists provided by the Hamas-linked prisoners’ office. Among the prisoners released Saturday were Mohammad Odeh, Wael Qassim and Wissam Abbasi, arrested in 2002 for a series of deadly bombings targeting Israelis in busy civilian areas. All three were serving life sentences.

One of the group’s most famous attacks, which took place at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, killed nine people, including five Americans.

The three men are among those who will be exiled abroad and will never be allowed to return home to Jerusalem, under the terms of the agreement.

This article was originally published in the New York Times.

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