Updated January 25, 2025 at 14:21 PM ET
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hamas fighters have released four female Israeli soldiers held in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Liri Albag, 19; Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20 and Naama Levy, 20, were handed over Saturday morning to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, who transferred them to Israeli troops for the drive across the border into Israel.
The handover to the Red Cross took place on Palestine Square in Gaza City, and was marked by a large ceremony, in which phalanxes of armed Hamas fighters fanned out around the square in their military uniforms, black balaclavas and signature green headbands. Spectators clambered atop rubble and wrecked vehicles to watch the handover, waving Palestinian and Hamas flags.
On their 477th — and last — day of captivity, the four young women, who had been captured in their pajamas, were paraded in soldiers' uniforms before standing on a stage at the head of the square. Behind them hung banners with slogans that condemned Israel.
During their brief appearance, broadcast live on Israeli television, some of the hostages smiled and waved, raising their arms and giving thumbs up signs in front of the crowd. Two held each other's hands.
They were freed as part of a deal brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt for a six-week ceasefire that began last Sunday after more than 15 months of war in Gaza. The latest exchange came amid anger in Israel that Hamas was still holding civilians, despite having agreed as part of the deal to release civilian hostages ahead of Israeli soldiers.
Hours later, Israel released 200 Palestinians from prison as part of the hostage-for-prisoner swap outlined in the temporary truce. The Israel Prison Service said the prisoners were released in groups, some to the West Bank and others to the Keren Shalom crossing where Israel meets Gaza and Egypt.
Abdullah Zaghri, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, which advocates for Palestinians in Israeli jails, said in a statement that more than half of those released Saturday have been transferred to the West Bank. A small number of them were sent to locations inside Israel.
According to Hamas, 120 of the detainees were serving life sentences.
A group of 70 will be sent to Egypt for exile in a small number of other Arab countries. According to the provisions of the agreement, detainees who were serving life sentences for murder and other serious crimes must be sent abroad.
One of them was Wael Qasem, convicted and sentenced to 35 life terms. He was described by the Israeli prison service as a member of a Hamas cell that was responsible for a series of suicide bombings, including the July 2002 attack at Jerusalem's Hebrew University that killed nine people, including five American students.
Also among the Palestinians freed is Muhammad Al-Tous, 70, the longest-held prisoner in Israeli jail, according to Fares' association. He was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment for attacks against Israel.
A portion of the around 1,900 prisoners and detainees Israel will release in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement have been held without any charges, but it was not immediately clear how many of those were among the freed on Saturday.
Seven Israeli women had already been released by Hamas as part of the six-week ceasefire. The militant group still holds 90 more hostages: most were seized in the 2023 attack, though several were captured nearly a decade ago. Hamas has promised to release another 26 hostages in the coming weeks, each in exchange for upwards of 30 Palestinian prisoners.
The four women released on Saturday were serving as field observers in Unit 414 of the Field Intelligence Battalion when Hamas militants stormed their base on the border with Gaza and set it on fire.
According to the Israeli military, 66 soldiers were killed and seven female soldiers were taken hostage from the base, located on Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The three who were not part of Saturday's handover are Agam Berger, 20, who remains in Hamas' hands; Cpl. Noa Marciano, 19, whose body was recovered by Israeli troops in Gaza in November 2023, and Ori Megidish, who was rescued in an military operation in October of that year.
Their fate has raised painful questions in Israel about the military's failure to prevent the 2023 Hamas attack. Members of the female observer team had warned repeatedly that Hamas fighters appeared to be engaging in maneuvers suggesting that an attempt to infiltrate into Israel was imminent, but the warnings were not taken seriously by male commanders.
NPR's Jerome Socolovsky reported from Tel Aviv; Willem Marx contributed from London.
Copyright 2025 NPR
