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Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip (AP)-Israel and Hamas were expected to exchange more hostages to Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, the other such exchange since a ceasefire began in the Gaza strip last weekend and another test for the deal.
The Curvis is intended to settle the deadliest and most devastating war ever fought between Israel and the militant group. The fragile agreement has so far held, which has dampened air strikes and rockets and allows increased help to flow into the small coastal area.
When the ceasefire started on Sunday, three hostages were held by the militants released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children. On Saturday, four hostages are expected to be freed from 200 prisoners, of which 120, who are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis. They are likely to be released in Gaza or sent abroad.
The four Israeli soldiers, Karina Aryv, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; And Liri Albag, 19, was caught in Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, igniting the war.
They were taken from the Nahal OZ base near the border with Gaza when Palestinian militants overpowered it, killing more than 60 soldiers there. The female abducted had all earned in a lookout unit charged with monitoring threats along the border. A fifth female soldier in their unit, Agam Berger, 20, was abducted with them, but not on the list.
Israeli Military issued a statement on Saturday morning in which they said the preparations had been completed to receive the hostages and give them medical attention and personal support at the initial receiving places, and then transfer them to hospitals and reunite them with their families.
At Gaza’s central Palestine place, a crowd began to gather early on as militant worked to block off an area where the hostages were expected to be surrendered to the Red Cross.
After the shift, Israel is expected to start withdraw from the Netzarim corridor – an east -west road that divides Gaza into two – and allow displaced Palestinians in the south to return to their former home in the north for the first time since the beginning of the war.
Palestinians will only be allowed to move north on foot, with vehicle traffic limited until later in the ceasefire.
What happens after the agreement’s initial six-week phase is uncertain, but many hope it will lead to the end of a war that has leveled large parts of Gaza, displaced the vast majority of its population and left hundreds of thousands of people in danger of famine.
The conflict began with a cross -border attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and took about 250 others hostage.
More than 100 hostages were freed in a week -long ceasefire the following month. But dozens have been in captivity for over a year without contact with the outside world. Israel believes that at least one -third of the more than 90 prisoners still in Gaza were killed in the preliminary attack or died in captivity.
Israeli Air and Earth War, one of the deadliest and most devastating for decades, has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who did not say how many were militants. They say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities.
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Follow the coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
