3 Israeli hostages released as latest prisoner exchange with Hamas begins amid Gaza ceasefire

Tel Aviv — Three Israeli hostages — two female soldiers and an 80-year-old man — were released in Gaza Thursday as the third hostages-for-prisoners swap agreed to by Israel and Hamas got underway, according to the Israeli military, which cited information from the Red Cross. Israel was to release dozens of Palestinian detainees from its prisons later in the day under the terms of the ongoing ceasefire. 

Five Thai hostages were also released by militants in Gaza on Thursday as part of a separate agreement. 

The first Israeli released early Thursday was female soldier Agam Berger, 20. She was handed over amid the ruins of the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza. Berger was the final hostage from an unarmed, all-female Israeli military unit that had been working to surveil Gaza. 

Seven women from Berger’s unit were taken hostage during Hamas’ Oct. 7 2023 attack on Israel, which saw militants kill about 1,200 people and take a total of 251 others hostage.

Israel’s military response to the attack has killed more than 47,300 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and decimated the Palestinian territory, displacing virtually all of its population and causing a wide scale humanitarian crisis.

Israel was expected to free 110 Palestinian prisoners as part of the exchange on Thursday.

Berger was escorted by militants out of the back of a destroyed building in Jabalia. Wearing an outfit that resembled green military fatigues, she was handed over to members of the Red Cross. Photos shared later by the Israeli military showed her reunited with her parents.

Two other Israeli hostages released Thursday were soldier Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, who was the oldest of the hostages.

Video showed Yehoud being transferred to the Red Cross, more than an hour after Berger’s release, in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis amid scenes of mayhem. Yehoud and Moses had been held by the militant group Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas. Yehoud and Moses were believed to be in Red Cross vehicles seen leaving the transfer site.

A huge crowd had gathered Thursday in Khan Younis to witness the handover, which took place near the home of deceased Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar. Dozens of armed militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad paraded through the area and the handover of the prisoners was chaotic, with armed militants, photographers and civilians crowding around the hostages as they were moved to the waiting Red Cross vehicles.

Under to the terms of the ceasefire deal, Yehoud should have been among the four women released during the second exchange on Jan. 24. After that release last weekend, the terms of the agreement stipulated that Israel would release a number of Palestinian prisoners from jails and allow Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza, across the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the north and south of the enclave.

When Yehoud wasn’t among those released last weekend, Israel said it would not allow Palestinians to cross the Netzarim Corridor. After a quick negotiation process, Hamas agreed to carry out Thursday’s previously unscheduled hostage release, to include Yehoud.

In anticipation of the release and according to the new agreement, Israel started allowing Palestinians to cross the Netzarim Corridor into northern Gaza on Monday. 

Tens of thousands of people have made their way back to the north , most of them on foot, some finding the ruins of their homes and the remains of loved ones, but also reuniting with family members they haven’t been able to see in months.

Israel has not confirmed the identities of the Thai nationals expected to be released on Thursday. A number of Thai citizens who had been agricultural workers in Israel were taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Hamas and its allies are expected to release a total of 33 Israeli hostages during the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, which took effect on Jan. 19. It is hoped that negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of the ceasefire plan will start to yield progress soon.

The next exchange, which will be the fourth, is scheduled to take place on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that will include the release of male hostages in Gaza.

The release of the three people on Thursday left 82 hostages — both living and dead — still in Gaza, according to Israeli officials, including seven dual U.S. nationals: Keith Siegel, 65, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut; and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey. Four other Americans are believed to have been killed. It remains unclear when any of the Americans might be released.