All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
Before a crowd of hundreds of people, Hamas fighters pointed a microphone at each of the three in turn and made them make a statement, before handing them over to waiting Red Cross officials. It was the first time hostages freed during this phase of the ceasefire have been made to make public statements during their release.
U.S. President Donald Trump's stunning proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, welcomed by Israel but vehemently rejected by the Palestinians and most of the international community, does not appear to have affected the current phase of the truce, which runs until early March.
But it could complicate talks over the second and more difficult phase, when Hamas is to release dozens more hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire. Hamas may be reluctant to free more captives — and lose its main bargaining chip — if it believes the U.S. and Israel are serious about depopulating the territory, which rights groups say would violate international law.
Hours before Saturday's release, dozens of masked and armed Hamas fighters, some driving white pickup trucks with guns mounted on them, lined up at the location of the exchange near the territory's main north-south highway in Central Gaza.
This was the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19. Before Saturday, 18 hostages and more than 550 Palestinian prisoners had been freed.
“The disturbing images from the release of Ohad, Eli, and Or serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt — there is no time to waste for the hostages,” said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing relatives of most of the hostages.
The first phase of the ceasefire calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory. Last week, wounded Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt for the first time since May.
Who was released on Saturday?
Sharabi and Ben Ami were both taken hostage from Kibbutz Beeri, one of the hardest-hit farming communities in the Hamas attack. Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where he was taking shelter in a saferoom when the militants arrived.
Sharabi's wife and two teenage daughters were killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, while his brother Yossi was also abducted and died in captivity. Levy's wife was also killed during the attack. His now 3-year-old son has been cared for by relatives for the past 16 months.
Ben Ami, a father of three, was kidnapped with his wife, Raz. Raz Ben Ami was released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Relatives of the hostages cheered, clapped and cried as they watched live footage of their loved ones being released.
Or Levy's brother, Michael, said his brother’s young son, Almog, was already informed his father was on his way.
“Mogi, we found daddy,” Michael Levy said he told the boy, using his nickname, in an interview with Israeli Channel 12. “We haven’t seen happiness like that in him for a long time."
The 183 Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel on Saturday include 18 people serving life sentences for committing deadly attacks, 54 serving long-term sentences and 111 Palestinians from Gaza who were detained after the Oct. 7 attack. All are men, ranging in age from 20 to 61.
While Israel considers them to be terrorists, Palestinians view them as heroes battling Israeli occupation. Virtually every Palestinian has a friend, relative or acquaintance who has been imprisoned.
More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire in Nov. 2023. More than 70 are still in Gaza, and Israel has said 34 of those are believed to have been killed in the initial attack or to have died in captivity. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the 33 to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire are dead.
Ceasefire is holding but next phase is uncertain
It is not clear whether Israel and Hamas have begun negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the latest ceasefire. A key far-right partner in Netanyahu's coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire's first phase.
Hamas says it won’t release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
In the Oct. 7 attack that started the war, some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air and ground war, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.
The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential neighborhoods.
Senior militants among Palestinian prisoners set for release
Of the 72 security prisoners being released Saturday, five hail from east Jerusalem, 14 from the Gaza Strip and the remaining 53 from the occupied West Bank. Seven are set to be transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.
A total of 47 prisoners will be freed Saturday from Ofer prison, in the West Bank, and transferred to Palestinian custody at the Betunia crossing point near the administrative center of Ramallah where scores of relatives, friends and supporters were preparing a hero’s welcome.
The Palestinian security prisoners were detained over offenses ranging from bomb attacks to involvement in militant organizations, in some cases dating back decades.
Among them is Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been locked up for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas militant attacks in crowded civilian areas that killed dozens of Israelis during the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s. That included a notorious 2004 suicide bus bombing in Israel’s southern desert city of Beersheba that killed 16 people, including a 4-year-old child.
Another is Jamal al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank and former mayor of the village of al-Bireh, abutting Ramallah.
He has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli jail, with the military reporting his last arrest in 2021 over his alleged participation in violent riots and efforts to entrench Hamas' leadership in the West Bank. He was transferred to administrative detention, a repeatedly renewable six-month period in which suspects are held without charge or trial.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
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Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel
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