Under Gaza ceasefire agreement, 50 Palestinian prisoners will be released for each Israeli soldier, meaning 200 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be freed today
GAZA: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Jan 25th, 2025) Hamas leaders on Saturday released four Israeli female soldiers and handed them over to the Red Crescent.
The Red Crescent vehicles transported the hostages towards Rafah.
As per international media, the four released soldiers are Karina Arieyo, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag. All four were members of the same military unit and were stationed near Gaza when Hamas launched its attack on October 7, 2023.
According to the international media, under the Gaza ceasefire agreement, 50 Palestinian prisoners would be released for each Israeli soldier, meaning 200 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be freed on Saturday (today).
On January 19, Hamas had handed over the first three Israeli captives to the Red Cross under the ceasefire agreement, following which 90 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails.
Earlier, a senior Hamas official told AFP that his group would provide on Friday the Names of four Israeli women hostages to be freed the following day in the second exchange of a ceasefire agreement.
“If all goes according to plan, once Hamas releases the four hostages on Saturday, Israel should free a group of Palestinian prisoners, though neither side has specified how many they will be,” they said.
The exchange is part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza war, which took effect on Sunday and saw three women hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners freed.
The fragile agreement is intended to pave the way to a permanent end to the war in Gaza, which began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
“Today, Hamas will provide the names of four hostages as part of the second prisoner exchange,” said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau based in Qatar.
- Lebanon withdrawal delay -
During their 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas militants took 251 hostages, 91 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.
The attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory response has killed at least 47,283 people in Gaza, a majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, figures which the UN considers reliable.
The war sparked a major regional crisis, with Israel's northern neighbour Lebanon dragged into the conflict for more than a year.
Just a day after the Hamas attack, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israel, sparking a near-daily exchange of fire between the two sides.
The hostilities then escalated into a full-scale war that a November 27 ceasefire brought to a halt.
Under that agreement, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26, while the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers deployed in the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, was to withdraw north of the Litani river in south Lebanon and dismantle its military assets in the area.
But Israel on Friday said its withdrawal would continue beyond Sunday.
"Since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, the gradual withdrawal process will continue in full coordination with the United States," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
