Tel Aviv [Israel], February 9: Israel and Hamas have carried out a prisoner swap, the latest exchange under the deal to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
Hamas released three Israeli captives on Saturday morning, while Israel's prison service confirmed it released 183 Palestinians, saying in a statement that they "were transferred from several prisons across the country" before being taken to the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza.
The exchange is the fifth under the truce agreement, which took effect on January 19 but already appears increasingly fragile amid United States President Donald Trump's proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians from the besieged enclave.
Hamas handed the Israeli captives over to the International Committee of the Red Cross at a carefully managed event on Saturday morning.
The three male civilians - Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 - were released under the first phase of the truce, which runs until early March.
Ahead of the handover, they appeared on a stage set up in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, surrounded by Qassam Brigades fighters and holding up release certificates.
Banners on the stage read: "We are the flood, we are the war's next day." Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that crowds chanted their support for the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing.
Shortly after the release of the Israelis, television footage showed a bus leaving the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of released Palestinians disembarked shortly afterwards in the town of Ramallah to scenes of jubilation from the waiting crowd.
Seven Palestinians among those released were admitted to hospitals upon arriving in Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society said.
Seven will be transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.
Among the Palestinians set for release were senior Hamas figures. Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, was jailed for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas attacks on Israel in the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.
Jamal al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank and former mayor of the village of el-Bireh, near Ramallah, spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli detention, most recently without charge.
There were emotional scenes as released Palestinian prisoners got off the buses outside the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
People were seen hugging and embracing each other.
After their medical checkups were finished, the released prisoners were expected to head to their neighbourhoods, which have been predominantly devastated by 15 months of Israeli attacks.
Pictured as they were released, the trio of Israelis appeared gaunt and frail following their 16-month ordeal.
"The disturbing images from the release of Ohad, Eli, and Or serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt - there is no time to waste for the hostages! We must get them all out, down to the very last hostage. Now!" said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement.
The three were swiftly handed to Israeli military and intelligence officers, according to a statement by the army, to be "escorted" to Israel by elite units.
Sharabi and Ben Ami were taken from Kibbutz Be'eri, a farming community targeted by Hamas during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken captive. Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival.
Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said the first captive released, speaking on stage in Hebrew amid the armed Hamas fighters, called on the Israeli government to follow through with phases two and three of the deal. "The majority of the Israeli public wants this too," she said.
On Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, Israelis waited "with bated breath", she said.
"This has become a symbolic place for family members of captives . and for the greater Israeli
public, who have been campaigning for their release and trying to put pressure on [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu . to adhere to this deal."
Source: Qatar Tribune
