Cnn
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Three male Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners were released during the fifth cycle of exchanges between Israel and Hamas on Saturday while Israel expressed itself by the appearance of liberated captives.
Ohad ben Ami, Eli Sharabi, and / or Levy – all taken hostage during the October 7 attack led by Hamas against Israel – were given to the Red Cross in the central city of Deir al -Balah during 491 of their captivity in Gaza. While the transfer was ordered – unlike the chaotic scenes surrounding the release of Israeli and Thai hostages in Gaza last week – the three seemed to be thin and pale when they were taken to a makeshift stadium.
Israel then released the 183 Palestinian prisoners who should be released on Saturday. Many of them appeared emaciated and in poor health.
On stage and surrounded by activists from Hamas, friend and Sharabi, dressed in brown, and Levy, dressed in green, delivered speeches in Hebrew. They were then taken to three vehicles from the Red Cross while waiting to bring them back to Israel.
The Red Cross then transmitted hostages to the Israel Defense Forces (FDI) to Gaza, which transferred them to Israel, where they underwent an initial medical assessment before finding their families.
The images during the transfer of hostages on Saturday aroused the condemnation of Israel. Levy – which was released because it was considered a humanitarian case – appeared particularly fragile.
The Israeli government has described the scenes as “shocking” and said that they “would not be not treated”, while the hostage and families who have disappeared from Israel said that the appearances of liberated hostages were “disturbing” .
Levy – which was released because it was considered a humanitarian case – appeared particularly fragile.
An Israeli negotiator veteran who became a peacetitch on Saturday, said the state of three Israelis on Saturday would remind many Israelis on the survivors of the Nazi concentration camp.
“Seeing the three hostages this morning as if they had been released from the concentration camps of the Second World War should force us all to accelerate the release of all hostages,” Gershon Baskin said in a statement.
Matan Zangauker’s mother, a 25 -year -old, still held in Gaza, ridiculed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have extended her trip to Washington and not do more to release her son.
“The three who returned today are Holocaust survivors,” said Einav Zangauker, mother of Matan Zangauker, in a passionate video. “My matan is going through a holocaust!”
Ben Ami, 56, and Sharabi, 52, were both withdrawn from their houses in Kibbutz Be’eri, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza border.
Ben Ami’s wife, Raz Ben Ami, also captive that day, was released during a short-lived truce in November 2023.
Sharab’s wife and girls were killed in the October 7 attack, according to the Kibbutz. We do not know if he knows they are dead. His brother Yossi Sharabi, caught in captivity, died in Gaza, where his body remains, according to the Israeli army.
Levy, 34, attended the Nova Music Festival on October 7 when he was kidnapped. His wife Eynav was killed in the attack. Levy also has a three -year -old son with whom he will be brought together on his return to Israel.
Hamas has now published a total of 16 Israeli hostages as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, a total of 33 promised at intervals staggered during this stage. Eight of these 33 died, according to the Israeli government.
After the release of the three hostages on Saturday, Hamas and its allies still hold a total of 73 people taken in Israel on October 7, 2023, of 251 initially taken. Three additional hostages, detained in captivity since 2014, are still in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel released 183 Palestinians on Saturday. Some of the liberated prisoners were brought from Oger prison to the occupied West Bank in Ramallah, where the video of their liberation showed weak and thin detainees, a man seeming so weak that he had to be transported.
The Israeli penitentiary system has been criticized for having intentionally reduced food portions to Palestinian prisoners in what has been described as the minimum required for survival, on the orders of the Minister of National Security Ben Gvir last year.
In the comments made in April 2024, GVir said that Palestinian prisoners “should be killed with a shot”, and called for a bill to allow executions to be adopted in the Israeli Knesset. “Until then, we will give them a minimum of food to survive. I don’t care, ”he said. In October, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that conditions in the famous SDE Teiman detention center should comply with Israeli law. CNN contacted the penitentiary system of Israel to comment.
Eighteen of the Palestinian prisoners released on Saturday served perpetuity, while 54 years were smaller penalties and 111 were arrested in Gaza after October 7, Hamas said in a statement. The accusations against the 111 were not clear.
Palestinian activists killed more than 1,200 people in the attack on October 7, 2023. Since then, the Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed more than 45,000 people, reduces a large part of the enclave to the rubble and led to A humanitarian disaster for surviving residents. War has spread in the region in the broad sense, putting Israel in conflict with Key Hamas Backer Iran, as well as Tehran’s proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen.
Uncertainty is looming on the future of the cease-fire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas. Negotiations on the extension of the Gaza ceasefire – which expires on March 1 – are in doubt.
Netanyahu deeply beware of phase two of this agreement, which would see the total withdrawal of the Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages there. His Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, is committed to leaving the government if the ceasefire continues.
Alibulating more uncertainty, in remarkable comments on Tuesday evening, American president Donald Trump proposed that the United States “take over” Gaza, move its residents in neighboring countries and refurbish the warpled by the war. His comments were welcomed by the far -right Israeli ministers and sentenced by Hamas.
His comments attracted international conviction, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressing that the Palestinians “should be authorized to return” and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterating “his opposition to any forced displacement”.
A Hamas official criticized Trump’s proposal as a “recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region”.
“Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass, and what is necessary is to end the occupation and the aggression against our people, and not to expel them from their land” Declared Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri.
This story has been updated.
