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Rabat – Hamas released three Israeli hostages today as part of the ceasefire deal it signed with Israel late last month.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) received the three Israeli hostages, Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, who appeared standing on the podium in the handover location in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
The hostage handover took place in front of a crowd of Palestinians before ICRC passed them to Israeli Occupation Forces (IOD) to transfer them to Israel where they will undergo a medical assessment.
Seemingly forgetting its genocidal war against the enclave, Israeli president Isaac Bougie Herzog commented on the situation of the released hostages who appeared “gaunt,” saying: “This is what a crime against humanity looks like!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also commented that “the shocking images that we have seen today will not go unaddressed.”
Not only do Netanyahu and Herzog’s comments demonstrate Israel’s attempts to justify its military assaults against Palestinians, but also its unwillingness to admit the humanitarian consequences of those actions.
In exchange for releasing the three Israeli hostages, Israel freed dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Ofer Prison. The prisoners arrived via buses to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and were received with great joy by their families.
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Four of the freed Palestinians have been transferred to a hospital in Ramallah to receive medical treatment for poor health after their health deteriorated as a result of the horrific conditions they endured under Israeli custody, according to Al Jazeera.
Israel is expected to release a total of 183 Palestinian prisoners today.
Today’s hostages-prisoners release marks the fifth swap as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal which entered into effect on January 19, with 16 Israeli hostages and at least 383 Palestinian prisoners freed since then.
The first phase of the ceasefire deal, reached after months of the IOF’s genocidal war against the Gaza enclave, is expected to see the release of 33 Israeli hostages and 737 Palestinian Prisoners.
The fifth hostage swap comes amid Trump’s controversial plans to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza enclave. Unsurprisingly, the proposal has been roundly dismissed by both Palestinians and regional countries.
