Israel received the three hostages after Hamas paraded them Saturday before hundreds in the Gaza Strip ahead of their release. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners will be freed in return.
The exchange is part of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel.
According to Hamas and Israel, the hostages are: Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34. All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war after some 1,200 people were killed.
It will be the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19. Eighteen hostages and more than 550 Palestinian prisoners have already been freed in that time.
Observers were concerned U.S. President Donald Trump’s stunning proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza could have imperiled the fragile deal.
The ceasefire paused the 15-month war in the Gaza Strip where Israel's retaliatory attack has killed more than 47,000 people, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
Israel begins releasing dozens of Palestinian prisoners
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Associated Press reporters saw a bus carrying a few dozen Palestinian prisoners heading to a meeting point where their families, friends and well-wishers were waiting.
Scenes of three Israeli hostages speaking under duress spark rage
TEL AVIV, Israel — The three looked gaunt and frail and were made to speak during a carefully orchestrated release ceremony surrounded by armed militants.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We will not accept the shocking scenes” that played out Saturday. The statement did not lay out any punitive measures, but previous releases that were chaotic sparked a delay in the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, said the hostages spent “491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained” and were “being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the “difficult scenes” were reason to extend the truce with Hamas and bring home the dozens of remaining hostages.
Hostage family in the UK marks his release
LONDON — Gillian and Pete Brisley watched the handover of their son-in-law, Eli Sharabi, from their home in Britain with bittersweet emotion, thrilled that he was finally free but horrified at his physical condition.
“At the moment I can hardly talk,’’ a shaken Gillian Brisley said before handing the phone to her husband, who commented on how fragile Sharabi appeared.
“He looks as though he’s been to Belsen,’’ Pete Brisley said, referring to the World War II concentration camp.
Earlier, his family said they didn’t know whether Sharabi had been told that his wife and two teenage daughters were killed on Oct. 7., 2023.
“I just hope that he already knows, because it’s just going to be another layer of torture for him to have survived for the 490 days and then to come out to that piece of news,’’ his wife’s brother Stephen Brisley told the BBC before his release.
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