Hamas set to release three Israeli hostages as Gaza ceasefire holds
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, abducted that day from the Nova music festival, will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas said.
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In exchange, Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people and including 18 serving life sentences and 111 detained in Gaza during the war, according to Hamas.
Dozens masked and armed Hamas fighters deployed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, at the site of the exchange, where hostages will be handed over to the International Red Cross Committee, which will transport them to Israeli forces in Gaza.
For families of the hostages who have been held incommunicado in Gaza for more than a year, the wait has been a roller-coaster of dread and hope as the moments of reunion drew near.
'I can't even start to describe the emotions that the excitement, how happy we are that it's finally close to be over, said Michael Levy, brother of Or Levy, who lost his wife in the October 7 attack and has a three-year-old son.
'We are waiting to hug him, waiting to see Almog (Levy's son), hugging his father again.'
Other hostages also face a harsh return. Sharabi's two teenage daughters and his British-born wife were slain in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be'eri, where one in 10 residents were killed.
'We are counting the minutes, the seconds and we just want him to be here already,' said Astrid Dafan-van Dien, a friend of Sharabi, 'although it will be very difficult because of Lianne (Sharabi's wife) and the girls.'
A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza are on the way to collect Israeli hostages from Hamas, an official involved in the operation told Reuters.
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