Hamas gets Gaunt Israeli hostages thanks prisoners before release

Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinians who were imprisoned by Israel, in a staged transfer in which rifle-winky Hamas fighters caused their tangers to hold short speeches, effectively on gun those in captivity for 16 months.

The events made an already exciting ceasefire more fragile, possibly at risk for the next steps in the ceasefire agreement. Israel is scheduled to withdraw from part of Gaza on Sunday to give Palestinians the opportunity to move more freely, but has threatened to take unspecified action in response to what it says is Hamas Cramps of the ceasefire .

And conversations about the second phase of the ceasefire agreement must move on now, in the midst of deep constitution in the Arab world over President Trump’s proposal to move the more than two million Gazans out of the enclave and get the United States to take over the territory.

For Hamas, the heavily choreographed hostages reinforced the group’s message that despite a devastating war in the Gaza Strip, which killed thousands of its members and much of its leadership, the group remains in power there, defying Israeli leaders’ promise to wipe it out.

In a statement of hostage release, Hamas said, “This confirms that our people and their resistance have the upper hand.”

But if Hamas then the scene in the city of Deir al-Balah as propaganda for his claim to have treated his prisoners willingly had the opposite effect in Israel, where many people found the images almost unbearable. Three fragile, painfully thin hostages were paraded on a stage before a quantity, each of which had a Hamas issued “Publishing Certificate” and was written to them.

Gideon Saar, Israeli Foreign Minister, called on the defining Jewish trauma of the last century and wrote on social media, “The Israeli hostages look like the Holocaust -survivors.”

Watching on Saturday was sure to strengthen pressure from some Israelis for the government to find a way to recover all the remaining hostages in Gaza. For others, it will strengthen the view that Israel should resume the war after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire expiring on March 2nd, rather than negotiating a long-lasting peace.

What happens then is far from determined.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after the release on Saturday that he had ordered the Israeli authorities to “take appropriate action” over violations of the ceasefire, but did not specify what these actions could be.

On Sunday, Israeli forces are planned to pull further east along a key corridor in Central Gaza to enable more Palestinian freedom of movement.

The three Israelis released Saturday by Hamas – Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34; And Ohad Ben Ami, 56-was among about 250 people abducted during the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, touching the war. About 75 have not been returned and about half are assumed to be dead.

The height-fire agreement requires release over six weeks with 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight others killed, in return for more than 1,500 Palestinians held by Israel. The Palestinian prisoners include people detained in Gaza during the war, but never charged with a crime and others who are serving life prison sentences for violent crimes.

So far, 16 living hostages and about 550 Palestinian prisoners have been released.

Hamas and Israel are assumed to negotiate conditions for the second phase of the ceasefire, which would end the war and free up the remaining hostages. But it is not clear that the two sides can come to an agreement.

Israel has promised not to end the war if it leaves Hamas who took control of Gaza in 2007, which was still responsible there. Hamas has rejected this demand and presented repeated exhibitions under the ceasefire, with heavily armed men-rarely seen publicly during the fighting patrol of the streets and less to control the streets and squares where hostages have been turned.

The three Israelis released on Saturday were brought to hospitals in central Israel to receive medical treatment and be reunited with loved ones.

The liberated Palestinians were taken to Ramallah, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, as well as Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and in both places some were led to hospitals. Several were also intended to be expelled abroad, and it was not immediately clear where the will ends.

In Ramallah, a tremendous amount of arrival of a Red Cross -Bus greeted released prisoners, seen by many Palestinians as tapping warriors against an obsessive enemy. At least some were convicted of involving deadly attacks against Israelis who consider them terrorists.

Many of the released Palestinian prisoners were in visibly poor condition and seemed fragile and thin. A few limp and required help. Palestinian prisoners have told serious accusations of abuse in Israeli prisons, especially during the Gaza war. The Israeli Prison Service has said it is treating them in accordance with the law.

Israeli forces attacked the West Bank Family Houses on at least four of men before their release and warned their relatives not to celebrate their freedom. Israel has been particularly alleged to suppress celebrations for prisoners released during the current truce, for fear of strengthening Hama’s popularity.

One of the prisoners whose family homes were attacked was Jamal Tawil, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank, who had been jailed several times on accusations that included planning bomb attacks against Israel. He was taken directly to a hospital in Ramallah after his release.

“He struggles to breathe and is very weak,” said his daughter, Bushra Tawil, a journalist and activist released in a previous exchange last month. “I was shocked when I saw him – he had been beaten upside down and other parts of his body until the last moments before his release.”

She said her family would have been threatened with arrest if they publicly celebrated his return.

The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment on her claims.

Another Palestinian, whose home in the West Bank was attacked, Shadi Barghouti, served a 27-year-old sentence for being an accomplice to murder, in the midst of other charges, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice. Family members said his father, Fakhri Barghouti, 70, was beaten under the raid.

Barghoutis, father and son, had overlapped in prison. The oldest was convicted in the killing of an Israeli bus driver in 1978, but was released in a prisoner agreement in 2011 with Hamas. Fakhri Barghouti was waiting for the Ramallah Culture Palace when his son arrived on Saturday – the first time they had met outside the prison since 1978. They were both tearful but smiling when Shadi Barghouti knelt when they saw his father.

Another released Hamas Militant, Iyad Abu Shkhaydem, now 50, had handed over 18 life judge, partly for planning the bombing of two buses in Beersheba in 2004 in Central Israel, killing 16 people.

In Israel, the government published recordings of Mr. Levy, who embraces his parents and brother when they met for the first time since he was taken hostage.

“My soul, we missed you so much,” his mother could be heard and said.

In the Israeli town of Be’eri, where Mr. Ben Ami and Mr. Sharabi both were abducted, the residents were gathered in the local pub to watch the release live on TV, said Haim Jelin, a resident and former Israeli legislator.

“People were happy and shouted when they got out of the car. But as soon as we saw them, there was total silence. People started crying, ”said Mr. Jelin in an interview. “It was intestinal.”

The forum for the hostage Family, representing relatives of the prisoners, issued a quick statement condemning the “unhappy images” of the transfer, and called for immediate release of the remaining prisoners.

“Everyone has to be brought home, down to the last hostage,” the forum said.

Reporting was contributed Rawan Sheikh Ahmadand Lara Jakes from Jerusalem; ; and Richard Pérez-Peña.