Hamas handed over on Saturday three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah, live television showed.
The militant group released Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7th, 2023, and Or Levy, abducted that day from the Nova music festival.
As part of the exchange, Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people and including 18 serving life sentences and 111 detained in Gaza during the war, according to Hamas.
Dozens of masked and armed Hamas fighters were deployed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, at the site of the hostage handover to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
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Crowds of people gathered at the site, where the ICRC vehicles waited to collect the hostages and transport the three to Israeli forces in Gaza, who will take them into Israel.
For families of the hostages who have been held incommunicado in Gaza for more than a year, the wait has been a roller-coaster of dread and hope as the moments of reunion drew near.
“I can’t even start to describe the emotions, the excitement, how happy we are that it’s finally close to be over,” said Michael Levy, brother of Or Levy, who lost his wife in the October 7th attack and has a three-year-old son.
“We are waiting to hug him, waiting to see Almog [Levy’s son], hugging his father again.”
Other hostages also face a harsh return. Sharabi’s two teenage daughters and his British-born wife were slain in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where one in 10 residents were killed.
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. – Reuters
