Published: 6:31pm, 25 Jan 2025Updated: 6:35pm, 25 Jan 2025
The Palestinian militant movement Hamas handed four female Israeli soldier hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday, live television showed.
Advertisement
The four were led onto a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men. A banner hanging off the stage read in Hebrew “Zionism will not prevail.”
They waved and smiled before being led off, entering International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vehicles that will transport them to Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said it had received the four in Gaza. They are being released in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
The four soldiers – Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and abducted by Hamas fighters who overran their base during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
After being reunited with their family at an Israeli military base near the Gaza border, the released hostages will be taken to a hospital in central Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
Advertisement