Three Israeli captives released in exchange for 183 Palestinians

Hamas released three Israeli captives from Gaza on Saturday, while Israel began freeing 183 Palestinian prisoners. 

The freed Israelis – Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 – were the latest to be released under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement. 

They were handed over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after being photographed on a stage in front of large crowds in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. 

Scores of masked Palestinian fighters monitored the area and ushered the three men on and off the stage before transferring them to Red Cross vehicles. 

Meanwhile, video footage showed a bus carrying Palestinian detainees from Israel’s Ofer Prison arriving in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday afternoon. 

So far, 21 Israeli and Thai captives and 383 Palestinian detainees have been freed since the ceasefire began on 19 January. 

Another 183 Palestinians were set to be released by the end on Saturday, according to Hamas.

Among them are 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving long-term sentences and 111 who were detained after 7 October 2023. They are all men aged between 20 and 61. 

Senior Hamas figures are due to be among those released, including Jamal al-Tawil, 61, a former mayor of the village of al-Bireh, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

He has been in and out of Israeli detention over the past two decades and was mostly recently detained and held in administrative detention in 2021. 

Seven of the Palestinians released on Saturday will be transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.

Israeli forces raided the homes of several Palestinian prisoners being released, the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office said on Saturday. The raids took place across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

Seven of the released Palestinians were taken to hospital on Saturday. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said some of them were in a serious condition. 

Tawil, the former mayor of al-Bireh, was among those taken to hospital, according to Al Jazeera. 

Second phase of truce deal in doubt

After an initial check at an army facility near the Gaza boundary, the three Israeli captives are expected to be transported to hospitals in central Israel. 

Sharabi and Ben Ami were taken from the Be’eri kibbutz during the Hamas-led surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,100 people and resulted in around 250 being taken captive in Gaza. 

Sharabi’s wife and two teenage daughters were killed on 7 October. His brother Yossi was also taken captive during the attack, and his death has since been confirmed by Israeli authorities.

Ben Ami’s wife Raz was taken captive on 7 October and later freed as part of a temporary truce deal in November 2023. 

Levy was taken captive from the Nova music festival in southern Israel. His wife Eva, 32, was killed by Palestinian fighters at the event. 

The first stage of the truce deal involves the exchange of 33 Israeli captives for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, the return of internally displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and the retreat of Israeli troops to a perimeter area. 

The second stage, which was expected to begin 42 days after the beginning of the truce, would see all Israeli captives released in return for a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. 

That phase has yet to be discussed thoroughly, though a Hamas official said on Tuesday that contact and negotiations for the second phase had begun – without providing further details. 

The third stage of the ceasefire, if agreed, would involve a plan on the governance of post-war Gaza and a three- to five-year reconstruction project overseen by international actors.

US President Donald Trump told reporters this week that he could not confirm whether the ceasefire would hold. 

In an explosive press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the US would “take over” the Gaza Strip and “own it”, forcibly displacing Palestinians from the enclave. 

“If it’s necessary, we’ll do that; we’re going to take over that piece. We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” he said. 

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that the third stage of the ceasefire, as things currently stood, could not be reached. 

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Middle East Eye that Trump’s plans were “a crime against humanity and a of the law of the jungle at the international level”.

He said Hamas considered Trump to be interfering “in a topic which should not be of his concern”. 

Naim added that Hamas was committed to the ceasefire agreement but that “any manipulation in implementing the agreement may cause it to collapse”.