BREAKING: Hamas frees three Israeli captives as 5th prisoner exchange begins - War on Gaza
The three men released on Saturday are Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, according to Hamas. Their names were confirmed by Netanyahu's office.
Dozens of armed Hamas fighters formed a cordon around an open area in the city of Deir el-Balah early Saturday, apparently to control crowds eager to watch the captives' release.
بدء عملية تسليم الأسرى الإسرائيليين إلى الصليب الأحمر في دير البلح وسط قطاع #غزة#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/3yY9dVqqo4 — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 8, 2025
As with past exchanges, a stage was erected for the occasion, festooned with a banner bearing images of destroyed Israeli armoured vehicles and a dejected-looking Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister.
اعتلاء مسؤولي الصليب الأحمر وأحد قادة القسام منصة التسليم للتوقيع على قرار الإفراج عن الأسرى الثلاثة واستلامهم من قبل الصليب الأحمر#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/TB5MfYT53h — قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 8, 2025
In Tel Aviv's "Hostages Square", where hundreds were expected later to watch the handover, a huge screen counted down the days, hours, minutes and seconds since Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack, when the hostages were first seized.
Former captive Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week by Hamas militants in Gaza, on Friday urged Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu, I'm now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home," Bibas said in his first public message following his release.
Hamas previously said his wife Shiri and his two sons Ariel and Kfir -- the youngest hostages -- were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.
The exchange comes despite uproar in the region over a proposal by US President Donald Trump to clear out the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants and for the United States to take over the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu, who is in Washington, will "monitor this phase of the captives' release from the control centre of the delegation in the US", the premier's office said in a separate statement.
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