Hamas releases hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, Israel releases 183 Palestinians as ceasefire deal holds

Hamas has released three more Israeli hostages in exchange for the freeing of 183 Palestinian detainees and prisoners, part of the latest stage of the ceasefire deal aimed at paving a way towards an end to the 16-month-long war in Gaza.

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, who was abducted that same day from the Nova music festival, were handed over to the Red Cross late on Saturday morning, local time.

The three men were paraded by Hamas in front of a large crowd of journalists, Hamas militants and civilians in Deir al-Balah, a square in Gaza, and made to give statements into a microphone before being driven away by the aid organisation.

The Red Cross then handed the trio — who looked frail and malnourished during their brief appearance before the media — over to Israeli forces nearby in the territory, after which they were taken across the border into Israel.

The freed hostages will undergo medical checks at a military facility as they are reunited with their families, before being taken to an Israeli hospital.

In exchange for the three hostages, Israel began the release of 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which Hamas’s media office said consisted of 18 prisoners serving life sentences, 54 prisoners serving other long sentences, and 111 people detained in Gaza during the war.

Among the freed prisoners is Eyad Abu Shkaidem, who was sentenced to 18 life terms in Israel for masterminding suicide attacks.

Seven of the Palestinians being released are due to be deported, most likely to a nearby country such as Egypt.

In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a bus carrying 42 freed Palestinian prisoners released from the Ofer military prison was welcomed by a cheering crowd, many waving Palestinian flags or chanting “God is great”.

The exchange is the latest in a series of swaps that have so far returned 13 Israeli hostages and five Thai workers abducted during the Hamas attack, as well as 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Despite hiccups, the 42-day ceasefire and hostage-for-prisoner exchange worked out between Israel and Hamas — with US backing and mediation by Egypt and Qatar — has so far held up since it took effect nearly three weeks ago.

Celebrations in Israel, but anger at hostages’ condition

As was the case with previous hostage releases, the trio’s handover to the Red Cross was met with celebrations in Israel.

However, the sight of the three frail-looking men being forced to speak to the crowd before their release sparked anger among those who watched the ceremony on live TV.

Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, said the hostages were “being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle” after “491 days of hell”, while Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said the “difficult” scenes were all the more reason to extend the truce with Hamas and bring home the dozens of remaining hostages.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that due to the trio’s serious condition, Israel would “not allow the situation to go unaddressed, and … take appropriate measures”.

Israeli officials have not detailed what those measures will be.

Bittersweet moment for families

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 told the Associated Press before handing the phone to her husband, who commented on how fragile Mr 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 Mr Sharabi had been told that his wife and two teenage daughters were killed in the October 7 attacks.

“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.

Source » abc.net.au