The women were taken in Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the Israel-Gaza war and have had no contact with the outside world since
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East, with a focus on the four female Israeli soldiers held hostage in Gaza since 2023 set to be released by Hamas on Saturday.
The exchange is the second swap agreed to under the Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal.
Palestinian militant group Hamas announced on Friday that it would release four female soldiers held hostage for 15 months in Gaza, as part of an exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners laid out in its ceasefire agreement with Israel. An advocacy group representing the families of hostages confirmed the identities of the captive Israelis to be released on Saturday.
The four Israeli soldiers are Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; and Liri Albag, 19. The women were taken in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the war and have had no contact with the outside world since then.
The female abductees had all served in a unit of lookouts charged with monitoring threats along the border.
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum welcomed their expected release saying: “An entire nation has fought for them and anxiously awaits their longed-for return to their families’ embrace.”
Not on the list, however, was Arbel Yehoud, the last female civilian hostage being held in Gaza, who Israeli officials earlier this week said they expected to be released this weekend.
Israel believes about a third, or possibly as many as half, of the more than 90 hostages still in Gaza have died. Hamas has not, however, released definitive information on how many captives are still alive or the names of those who have died.
In the first phase of the ceasefire deal, 33 hostages – including women, children, sick people and those over 50 – are expected to be released gradually in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Most of the 33 are civilians, but the deal also commits Hamas to freeing all living female soldiers in phase 1, which is expected to last 42 days.
The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected 200 prisoners to be freed on Saturday as part of the deal, including 120 serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.
Saturday’s exchange would be the second since the ceasefire began last Sunday and Hamas released three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, has halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November 2023.
