Hamas releases three Israeli hostages as Gaza ceasefire holds

JERUSALEM: Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian detainees and prisoners in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal aimed at opening the way to ending the 15-month Israeli aggression in Gaza.

The Palestinian group handed over the three hostages to the Red Cross in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah, live television showed.

Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 and Or Levy, abducted that day from the Nova music festival, will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas said.

In exchange, Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences and 111 detained in Gaza, Hamas media office said.

The exchange is the latest in a series of swaps that have so far returned 13 Israeli hostages as well as five Thai workers abducted during the Hamas attack and 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.

But fears the deal might collapse before all the hostages are free have grown since US President Donald Trump’s surprise call for Palestinians to be moved from Gaza and for the enclave to be handed to the United States and developed into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Arab states and Palestinian groups have rejected the proposal, which critics said would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, welcomed Trump’s intervention and his defence minister ordered the military to make plans to allow Palestinians who wished to leave Gaza to do so.

Under the deal, 33 Israeli children, women and older men are to be released during an initial phase in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Negotiations on a second phase began this week aimed at returning the remaining hostages and agreeing a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in preparation for a final end to the Israeli aggression.

Israel launched an air and ground aggression in Gaza that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the narrow enclave.