Hamas Set to Release 3 Israeli Hostages as Gaza Ceasefire Holds

GAZA/JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian militant group Hamas is set to hand over three Israeli hostages today, Saturday 8 February 2025, 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 war in Gaza.

Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on 7 October 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, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people and including eighteen serving life sentences and 111 detained in Gaza during the war, according to Hamas.

Dozens masked and armed Hamas fighters deployed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, at the site of the exchange, where hostages will be handed over to the International Red Cross Committee, which will transport them to Israeli forces in Gaza.

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 that 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 7 October 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 ten residents were killed. "We are counting the minutes, the seconds and we just want him to be here already," said Astrid Dafan-van Dien, a friend of Sharabi, "although it will be very difficult because of Lianne (Sharabi's wife) and the girls."

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza are on the way to collect Israeli hostages from Hamas, an official involved in the operation told Reuters.

TRUMP

The exchange is the latest in a series of swaps that have so far returned thirteen 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.

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 ceasefire deal, 33 Israeli children, women and sick, wounded and older men are to be released during an initial phase in exchange for almost 2,000 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 war.

Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages.

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