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The trade is the most recent in a sequence of swaps which have up to now returned 13 Israeli and 5 Thai hostages kidnapped throughout the battle
Palestinian militant group Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages on Saturday, February 8, whose emaciated look shocked Israelis following their launch on dwell TV, within the newest stage of a ceasefire deal geared toward ending the 15-month struggle in Gaza.
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, each taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri throughout the cross-border Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, kidnapped that day from the Nova music competition, have been led onto a Hamas podium by gunmen.
The three males all appeared skinny, weak and pale, and in worse situation than the 18 hostages who had beforehand been freed beneath the truce agreed final month.
“He regarded like a skeleton, it was terrible to see,” Ohad Ben Ami’s mother-in-law, Michal Cohen, instructed Channel 13 Information as she watched the Hamas-directed handover ceremony, which included them answering questions posed to them by a masked man as militants armed with computerized rifles stood on both sides.
Dozens of armed Hamas fighters have been deployed on the web site in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, as the lads have been handed over to the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross which was to move them to Israeli forces in Gaza.
In trade, Israel will launch 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in assaults that killed dozens of individuals and together with 18 serving life sentences and 111 detained in Gaza throughout the struggle, based on Hamas.
For households of the Israeli hostages who’ve been held incommunicado in Gaza for greater than a 12 months, the wait has been a rollercoaster of dread and hope because the moments of reunion drew close to.
Some face a painful return. Sharabi’s two teenage daughters and his British-born spouse have been slain within the Hamas assault on Kibbutz Be’eri, the place one in 10 residents was killed.
Trump shock
The trade is the most recent in a sequence of swaps which have up to now returned 13 Israeli and 5 Thai hostages kidnapped throughout the Hamas assault and launched 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Regardless of hiccups, a 42-day ceasefire and hostage-for-prisoner trade labored out with US backing and mediation by Egypt and Qatar has held up because it took impact practically three weeks in the past.
However fears the deal would possibly collapse earlier than all of the hostages are free have grown since US President Donald Trump’s shock name for Palestinians to be moved from Gaza and for the enclave to be handed to america and developed into the “Riviera of the Center East.”
Arab states and Palestinian teams have rejected the proposal, which critics stated would quantity to ethnic cleaning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nonetheless, welcomed Trump’s intervention and his defence minister ordered the navy to make plans to permit Palestinians who wished to go away Gaza to take action.
Beneath the ceasefire deal, 33 Israeli kids, ladies and sick, wounded and older males are to be launched throughout an preliminary section in trade for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Negotiations on a second section started this week geared toward returning the remaining hostages and agreeing a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in preparation for a last finish to the struggle.
Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 folks and seizing greater than 250 as hostages, based on Israeli tallies.
In response, Israel launched an air and floor struggle in Gaza that has killed greater than 47,000 Palestinians, based on Gaza well being authorities, and devastated a lot of the slim enclave. – Rappler.com
