Four Israeli soldiers have been released by Hamas after 15 nightmare months in Gaza.
Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, Karina Ariev, who are all 20, and Liri Albag, 19, were seen on Saturday stepping out of a Palestinian vehicle and were handed over to a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross after being paraded in front of a crowd in Gaza City.
Dozens of masked and armed Hamas and fellow Islamic Jihad militants gathered at a square, where a podium was set up.
A banner hanging off the stage read in Hebrew ‘Zionism will not prevail.’
The women were brought onto a stage after exiting the vehicle, as they beamed with joy and relief and waved to the crowds.
Meanwhile in Israel, thousands erupted with joy in a square in Tel Aviv, where family and friends of the hostages gathered to watch a livestream of their release.
Several Tel Aviv citizens could be seen crying, smiling and hugging each other as they held up placards showing the names and faces of the hostages.
The four women were then transported to the border of Gaza, where a helicopter waited for them.
Around an hour after being handed over to the Red Cross, the Israeli Defence Force confirmed that the four hostages had arrived back in Israel.
‘The four returning soldiers, Daniela Gilboa, Liri Elbag, Naama Levy and Karina Ariev, have now crossed the border into Israeli territory with IDF and Shin Bet forces,’ the IDF wrote on X.
‘The returnees, accompanied by IDF and Shin Bet forces, recently crossed the border into the territory of the State of Israel and are now on their way to the initial absorption point in the Gaza Strip, where they will meet with their parents.’
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari also said in a televised speech that Israel ‘cannot and will not forget’ the 90 hostages who remain in Gaza.
The hostages were then taken to designated locations in Re’im, Israel, before being transported by vehicle or helicopter to hospital, where they will receive medical checks.
It was confirmed that they had been reunited with their parents.
The IDF also shared an emotional clip of the families of the hostages laughing, crying and clapping as they watched the four women being released.
Their release comes under the latest phase of a fragile ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected 200 prisoners to be freed on Saturday as part of the exchange, including 120 serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.
Hamas said today that 70 of the 200 Palestinian prisoners set to be freed would be deported outside of Gaza and the West Bank.
Their identities have not yet been published but they are likely to include members of militant groups convicted for deadly attacks that killed dozens of people.
The four women released today were soldiers stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza when they were abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Today’s exchange is the second since the ceasefire began on Sunday last week and Hamas handed over three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas announced yesterday that the four female soldiers would be released, but cruelly, soldier Agam Berger, 20, was not included in the list, splitting up the families who have campaigned relentlessly together to bring them all home.
Video of the abduction of the five female soldiers aired in May, showing the conscripts, pyjama-clad and stunned and some bloodied, being bound and bundled into a jeep.
The footage was recovered from bodycams worn by gunmen who attacked the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel where the women served as surveillance spotters.
The mothers of the five women held in Gaza tirelessly campaigned for the release of their daughters, and ultimately made the agonising decision to release the horrifying three-minute Hamas Go Pro video in a desperate bid to get politicians to fight for them.
The horrific clip showed the young women limping, injured and bloodied as their hands are bound.
They are lined against the wall by Palestinian terrorists having been taken from Nahal Oz base during their mandatory National Service as unarmed observers.
‘You dogs, we will step on you.’ One screams at the girls.
Another of the terrorists is seen pointing at the girls calling them ‘Sabaya’, an ancient islamic term that can mean female sex slave, before leering over Karina in her snoopy pyjamas, saying: ‘You are so beautiful.’
Earlier this month Hamas also released a sickening hostage video of the youngest of the hostages released, Liri Albag, who was seen shaking and crying as she begged her government to save her.
A video of Levy being bundled into a jeep in Gaza circulated on social media within hours of her abduction.
It showed Levy bruised and cut, the seat of her trousers stained with blood, with her hands tied behind her back, pushed into the vehicle by a gunman while bystanders chant ‘God is greatest!’ in Arabic.
She had just begun her military service when the attack took place and as she was pushed into the jeep, she pleaded: ‘I have friends in Palestine,’ footage released of her capture showed.
Gilboa was wounded during the attack on October 7 and was shown limping in the video showing the soldiers’ capture.
She was seen last year in a video released by Hamas, which showed her appealing angrily to the government to work for her release and saying she felt abandoned.
Just before being taken, Ariev managed to speak briefly with her parents and sent her family a farewell message, Israeli media reported.
A subsequent photo of her in captivity released by Hamas showed her with a bandaged head with what appeared to be blood stains.
The list released by Hamas of the hostages it was set to release was also notable for the absence of the female civilians, Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Bibas, 30, as well as her sons Kfir, two, and Ariel, five, who should have been released before female soldiers.
The Israel Defence Forces and representatives of the families called on commentators not to speculate on their status as Israeli officials accused Hamas of violating the terms of the deal.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded to know why no civilians are set for release. Officials warned the continuation of the deal may be delayed.
But Hamas later confirmed today that Yehud is alivd and will be freed next Saturday.
Agam Berger’s cousin Ashley Waxman Bakshi, 38, told the Mail the terror group is using the hostage release to continue its ‘psychological warfare’ against Israelis.
‘It is so cruel and evil that the five girls are being split,’ she said hours before the announcement that her relative would not be freed today.
‘It’s just awful because we’ve done everything together for the past 15 and a half months.
‘It really is the highest level of evil and psychological warfare they’re doing to the families by ripping us apart like that.’
She was speaking at a ceremony where Agam’s mother Meirav, 48, prayed for her daughter’s safe return in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Mrs Berger, supported by her husband, Shlomi, 52, said in a prayer: ‘The return of our beloved daughters is approaching, God willing. We are counting the minutes and waiting with bated breath for everyone’s return.’
Mrs Berger finished the prayer by adding: ‘This land will not rest until all our hostages are home. This is my promise.’
The first phase agreement that will see 33 hostages freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners states that Hamas must let Israel know who it is freeing 24 hours in advance.
But on the first week they were 18 hours late and have still not stated how many of those due to be released imminently are alive.
It means Israelis face a torturous wait each week to discover who is living and who will be freed. Ms Waxman Bakshi compared it to some of the darkest days of Jewish history.
‘It’s just an awful feeling that we’ve gone back to the days of the Holocaust, where we have lists determining who’s going to have what fate.’
Hamas should let Israel know today how many of the 30 hostages remaining in the first phase are alive. But it is feared they won’t name them, only state the number of the living out of each category – women, elderly, and sick – to prolong the families’ suffering.
It is hoped Agam will be freed next Saturday. She was doing national service as an unarmed observer at Nahal Oz base when she was taken captive along with Daniella, Naama, Karina, and Liri.