THE WASHINGTON POST: Hamas frees four Israeli female soldiers as fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza

Four female Israeli soldiers were released by Hamas in Gaza City and 200 Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel on Saturday, the start of a second week of a planned six-week ceasefire and hostage release deal that has halted 15 months of fighting and delivered to Hamas a new platform to present an image of power.

Hours before releasing the hostages, the militants paraded the women, dressed in army green, in a public square in Gaza, forcing them to climb a stage, smile and raise their arms for a gaggle of cameramen.

The hostages were then transferred to the Red Cross vans that would take them home to Israel. At the Israeli military facility at the border, at the hospital waiting to receive them, and at viewing parties across the country, parents, siblings and friends of the women - Liri Albag, 19, Naama Levy, 20, Karina Ariev, 20, and Daniella Gilboa, 20 - wept with joy at seeing the women walking on their own.

Later Saturday, 200 Palestinian prisoners were released from the Ofer and Ketziot prisons as part of the ceasefire agreement, a spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service said. Among them was Wael Qassem, the leader of a Hamas cell in East Jerusalem and one of the most prominent of some 120 prisoners serving life sentences who were included in the ceasefire deal, according to an organization that represents Palestinian prisoners. Qassem received 35 life terms for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis during the second intifada, the mass Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.

In Israel, relatives of the four hostages expressed an overwhelming sense of relief at their return. Gilboa’s family thanked people for their “prayers and support,” saying in a statement shared by the Hostages Families Forum, “We couldn’t have made it through without you.”

“Our hearts are filled with immense gratitude and joy,” Ariev’s family said in a statement. “Our Karina is a symbol of courage, heart, and determination, and we are proud of her beyond words.”

“This is a very happy moment for which we have waited a long time,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Liri Albag’s parents in a phone call.

Under the deal, Israel is also expected to partially withdraw its troops to facilitate the movement of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip. At Netzarim Corridor, a four-mile road that Israel paved during the war to divide the Strip in two, long lines of people were gathering on Saturday afternoon in anticipation of the opening.

But Israel said Saturday that Hamas had violated the deal, which required it to release all living civilian women first. Israel had expected that Arbel Yehud, a 29-year-old civilian who was abducted with her boyfriend from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, would be among those in the Saturday release.

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israeli forces would not begin withdrawing from the Strip until Yehud’s release “is arranged.”

Hamas on Saturday accused Israel of preventing displaced people from returning to northern Gaza, as agreed. Israel delayed holding up its end of the deal, the militant group said in a statement, and so was “responsible for any disruption” in its implementation.

The four released female soldiers were among the first to be abducted on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led forces killed some 1,200 people and dragged another 250 into the enclave. Hamas filmed the first hours of the assault on their base, showing the women handcuffed against the wall, in their pajamas and covered in blood. Since the video was rereleased by the families in May in attempts to increase pressure to reach a hostage release deal, it has remained among the most powerful symbols of the Israeli military and intelligence failures that led to the surprise rampage on Oct. 7.

Albag, Levy, Ariev and Gilboa were taken hostage with three other female soldiers: Agam Berger, who is presumed alive and still in captivity in Gaza; Noa Marciano, who was killed by her captors near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to IDF assessments, and whose body has since been repatriated to Israel; and Ori Megidish, who was rescued, alive, by the Israeli military in late October 2023.

The hostage release on Saturday followed a similar, though more chaotic, hostage transfer on Sunday, in which Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen were freed after being filmed as they were pushed through throngs of Gazans shouting “Allahu akbar,” before being handed over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The ceasefire deal, still in its early stages, is open-ended, which leaves future releases, and Israel’s willingness to declare an end to the war in Gaza, in question.

It follows 15 months of agonizing uncertainty, in which most families of hostages received few or no signs that their loved ones were alive. Hamas released a video this month showing Albag, in army green, shaking and crying as she begged her parents not to forget her - psychological warfare, Israeli officials said, intended to torture the families.

Gal Cohen, who served in the hostages’ surveillance unit, joined dozens of former comrades Saturday in the Tel Aviv plaza known as Hostages Square, where supporters cheered at live news broadcasts reporting the homecoming. Cohen said the Hamas transfer, intended to show the militant group’s power, served instead to highlight the strength of the hostages after 477 days in captivity.

“Hamas believed they could humiliate them,” said Cohen, smiling, “but the women came out victorious.”

Concern remained for Agam Berger, 20, the last female soldier held in Gaza.

“We eagerly await embracing Agam, God willing, in the coming week,” Berger’s family said Saturday in a statement.

“This day is extremely happy,” Cohen said. “But we are also very, very worried for Agam, who has been left behind, still surrounded by Hamas gunmen.”

The national euphoria over the past two weeks has been accompanied by dread over the fate of the dozens of hostages who remain behind, most of whom are not slated for release during the first, six-week phase of the agreement that will conclude in early March.

Levy’s family emphasized in a statement that they would “not rest until the last hostage returns.” Albag’s family said they were proud of their daughter for her “superhuman strength” but “at the same time, our hearts are with the families of Arbel [Yehud], Agam Berger, the Bibas family, and all other hostages still waiting to return home.”

Last week, Hamas delayed the start of the ceasefire by several hours after refusing to hand over the list of the three women it intended to release. On Saturday, it informed Israel that it would release the four female soldiers.

“We are committed to all of the hostages who are still being held captive by Hamas in inhumane conditions,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli military, said Saturday. “The mission will not be completed until they are all returned to Israel.”

Hagari reiterated that Israel considered Saturday’s hostage releases a violation of the deal, as Yehud remains in Gaza. Yehud is believed to be held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza.

Israel has, throughout its negotiations, demanded that Hamas be responsible for the handover of all agreed-upon hostages, including those held by other groups or by private families. On Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a video on social media saying it would also, in coordination with Hamas, release Israeli hostages.

Hamas has also refused to hand over a list confirming which hostages are living or dead.

Among the most high-profile of the hostages remaining are the Bibas children - the youngest hostages taken on Oct. 7. Kfir was abducted at 9 months old, and his brother Ariel was taken at age 4. On Oct. 7, Hamas live-streamed smartphone footage of their mother, Shiri, terrified and clutching the boys to her chest as she was forced into captivity. Israeli officials have notified the family that they have “serious concerns” for the well-being of Shiri and the children but that the hostages have not been definitively declared dead.

Kfir’s picture, showing a smiling, redheaded baby boy holding up a pink elephant doll, has been among the photos plastered across Israeli buildings and billboards for the past 15 months.

Despite having prepared themselves, when the Bibas family learned that Shiri and her children were not slated for release on Saturday, their “world collapsed,” the family wrote in a post on Instagram.

“We will continue to hope and demand your release,” the post read. “It isn’t over until it’s over.”

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Craw reported from London. Pietsch reported from Washington. Hajar Harb in London and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

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