Three Israeli hostages released by Hamas

Israel and Hamas completed their fifth hostage-prisoner exchange under a ceasefire deal on February 8th, according to Arab News via AFP.

Crowds in Tel Aviv cheered when watching live footage of the hostages with masked gunmen by their side.

The hostages appeared to be weak and gaunt as they were paraded on a makeshift stage, reported CNN. The men were handed over to the Red Cross and then to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). Israel’s government called their frail appearance “shocking” and said they “would not go unaddressed.”

An advocacy group representing the families of Israeli hostages kept in Gaza said it was “horrified by the visible physical and mental condition” of Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy.

Sharabi, 52, was taken from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri, around 2.5 miles from Gaza’s border. According to the kibbutz, Sharabi’s wife and daughters were killed by Hamas militants on the attack of October 7th. Sharabi’s family said that he did not know his wife and daughters had been killed in the attack until after he was freed, the BBC confirmed.

This news comes after 183 inmates were freed by Israel in the exchange. Out of those who were released, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said seven needed to be hospitalised and condemned the brutality and maltreatment in prison.

Upon releasing the Palestinian prisoners, Israel’s prison service said that “183 terrorists . . . were released.”

Hamas responded to the release in a statement that called the imprisonment “part of the policy of … the slow killing of prisoners” and condemned Israel for “systematic assaults and mistreatment of . . . prisoners.”

The fifth exchange since the truce was implemented in January comes as talks were to start for the next phase of the ceasefire, which would lay the foundations for a permanent end of the war.

Arab News via AFP, CNN, BBC