Israel releases Palestinian prisoners, after Hamas frees Israeli hostages in Gaza – BBC

Hamas has released three Israeli hostages, after days of fears over future of the Gaza ceasefire
The hostages are now back in Israel – watch our coverage live at the top of the page
Israel is releasing 369 Palestinian prisoners in return – a few went to the West Bank, the majority are now arriving in Gaza
Hamas said on Monday it would not release hostages this weekend, blaming Israel for alleged violations of the the ceasefire
Israel said if hostages weren't released by midday (local time) on Saturday, it would resume attacks on Gaza
Today's hostage release is a positive sign – but Palestinians are still concerned about the ceasefire, writes our Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf
This video can not be played
Watch: Celebrations in Israel as three more hostages released
Edited by Jenna Moon and Rorey Bosotti, with Alice Cuddy in Ramallah, and Davide Ghiglione and Paul Adams in Tel Aviv
Paul Adams
Reporting from Kfar Saba
With this complex, phased ceasefire deal now apparently back on track – after a week in which it seemed close to collapse – attention turns to what happens next.
The scene is now set, in theory, for the start of negotiations on phase two of this three-stage deal.
If phase one remains fraught with difficulty, the next phases – including Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza and the devastated area’s reconstruction – pose even bigger challenges.
Hamas has proved that it still has organised military forces on the ground. Even if the displays accompanying the release of hostages don’t necessarily prove a whole lot, Israel must decide whether it’s worth going back to war to achieve Benjamin Netanyahu’s oft-repeated war aim of “total victory”.
Hamas, which at one point seemed willing to step back from any role in Gaza’s governance, may now be reconsidering.
There are two rival plans for Gaza’s future.
Donald Trump says the US should take control and that two million Palestinian civilians should leave, possibly for good.
His incendiary suggestions seem to have spurred Arab leaders into action.
An Egyptian plan is beginning to take shape. Reports suggest it envisages Palestinians remaining in Gaza while reconstruction takes place, the creation of a national Palestinian committee to rule Gaza without Hamas involvement and movement towards a two-state solution.
These are two very different plans. The Egyptian proposals are likely to be formally presented at an Arab summit later this month.
We are pausing our live coverage of events in Israel and Gaza for now. For more updates on this story, you can read our news article. Thanks for reading.
Hamas has released a new statement saying the US should press Israel to abide by the ceasefire agreement.
A spokesperson for the group says Washington must urge the Israeli government to stick to the agreement in order to protect the lives of hostages.
It comes after Donald Trump said he would back Israel if it decides to renew its military offensive in Gaza.
Alice Cuddy
BBC News
It begins with a phone call with a location.
Once the details are received, a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sets off in vehicles marked with the humanitarian organisation's logo to pick up the hostages in Gaza.
Israeli military and medical personnel are also assembled at several different locations, waiting to bring them home.
Under the terms of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that began on 19 January, a total of 33 Israeli hostages are due to be released and returned to their families during the first phase, lasting six weeks. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are being freed.
If anything goes wrong, it risks the hostages remaining in captivity, and reigniting the war."This is more than just a drive," says ICRC spokesperson Sarah Davies.
"These operations may seem simple, but in fact they are very complex and require rigorous security measures to minimise the risks to those involved."
The ICRC, which acts as a neutral intermediary in the handover, assembles a team of specialists, some of whom have been involved in similar operations in the past – though this is more challenging than most.
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Ramallah
Among those in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank today were the family of Hassan Awais.
“I am very, very happy. We weren’t expecting to see a day like this,” his nephew said as he waited ahead of the release.
Like other freed prisoners, Hassan was carried through the street by family and supporters after arriving on a minibus.
“I left my children as infants. They don’t know me. Now they’re grown up and taller than me. This is a feeling that can’t be described,” he said.
Hassan was arrested in 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. The Israeli Prison Service says he was convicted of offences including “intentional death, planting an explosive device and attempted murder".
This video can not be played
We can now bring you this video of freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen reuniting with his family at an IDF facility near the Gaza border.
His wife, Avital, was pregnant when he was captured by Hamas in October 2023.
In footage published by the IDF, Avital tells him the name of their daughter who was born while he was in captivity.
Yair Horn hugs his mother and brother in Israel after being released by Hamas
We can bring you an update now on Yair Horn, one of the three dual-national Israeli hostages released by Hamas earlier today.
The 46-year-old Argentine-Israeli has been reunited with his mother and brother – he arrived at a medical centre in Tel Aviv a little earlier.
His room in the hospital was decorated with merchandise from his favourite football team, Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on a visit to Washington earlier this month
US President Donald Trump says his country will back Israel if it decides to restart its military campaign in Gaza.
The hostages "seem to be in good shape!" Trump writes on his Truth Social site.
"Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 o’clock, today, deadline imposed on the release of all hostages. The United States will back the decision they make!"
The deadline he is referring to is one Trump mentioned earlier this week when he said Hamas needed to release "all" hostages by noon today. It is unclear what time zone he is referring to – but Trump previously said Israel should let "all hell" break out if the deadline was not met.
At the start of this week, Hamas said it wouldn't release any hostages, claiming Israel violated the terms of the ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas it would end the ceasefire if the Palestinian armed group "does not return our hostages by Saturday" – prompting confusion about whether all 73 hostages were expected to be released today.
The arrangement to release all hostages today was not part of the ceasefire deal, but there have been growing concerns throughout the week that fighting could resume.
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Ramallah
We’ve just been speaking to people gathered in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where buses full of hundreds of freed detainees have just arrived.
“He’s my beloved. My whole world,” one woman, Suha Abu Nada, tells us over the phone as she awaits the return of her father who was detained around six months ago.
“My mother died when I was a child so he raised me and then the Israelis took him from me,” she says, crying.
“I feel so much joy. It’s the biggest joy of my life. It’s better than graduating or getting married, it’s better than anything.”
As we have been reporting, 333 people are being released in Gaza today who have been detained without charge since the 7 October 2023 attacks.
We're receiving images into our newsroom now of the moment buses carrying Palestinian prisoners arrived in Gaza.
People can be seen leaning out of bus windows and waving to crowds gathered to welcome them.
Crowds in Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, are waiting for the Palestinian detainees to arrive.
Among the crowd are relatives of those returning to Gaza following detention in Israeli prisons.
Below you can see images of some of those waiting in the crowd.
Hamas released three hostages from Gaza this morning
If you're just joining us, we've been following the release of three dual-national Israeli hostages from Gaza today.
It is the sixth such release since a fragile ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas last month.
Here's what you need to know:
Palestinians celebrated the release of prisoners in Ramallah
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Ramallah
Nadeerah Abu Radha's brother-in-law, Amir, is due to be released today
Waiting in Ramallah today was Nadeerah Abu Radha, whose brother-in-law was among those to be freed.
“I cannot describe the feeling – joy, sorrow and pain for the people who are still inside,” she says.
Radha adds that she has known since the first week of the ceasefire deal that her brother-in-law Amir would be released, but that it wasn’t until last night that they got confirmation it would be today.
“We’d wait and wait and then he wouldn’t come. We’ve been on edge from the tension and stress,” she says.
“If he didn’t come out in this deal, we don’t think he’d ever come out.”
Radha also shared that her husband wept when they got the confirmation of his brother’s release.
The Israeli prison service says Amir was detained in 2002 – during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising – for offences including military training, intentional causing of death, and attempted murder.
We're getting some of the first images of the more than 300 Palestinian prisoners being released in Gaza.
It follows the release of three Israeli hostages earlier today, as part of the Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal.
Buses carrying prisoners are beginning to arrive in Gaza
Detainees are seen flashing the victory "V" hand sign out the bus window
Prisoners lean out the window as the buses enter Gaza
All 369 Palestinian prisoners expected to be released today have left Israeli prisons, a spokesperson from the Israel Prison Service has said.
In a statement, the spokesperson says they were released from Ofer and Ketziot prisons.
As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel said it would release about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees – before today, 766 had been released, according to the Red Cross.
Isaac Herzog
More reaction from Israel now following the release of three hostages from Gaza.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, posting on social media, says the three hostages released today were "forced to endure" a "despicable and cynical ceremony".
"Completing a hostage deal is a human, moral, and Jewish imperative. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring back all our sisters and brothers from captivity in Gaza", he says.
Defence minister Israel Katz, also posting on social media, says Israel will continue to work with the US to "ensure that all hostages return to Israel soon" and that "the Palestinian terror threat is destroyed and removed from Gaza".
Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says that Monday will mark the "unimaginable milestone of 500 days during which 73 hostages are being held in Hamas' hell in Gaza".
Paul Adams
Reporting from Kfar Saba
Today’s hostage release was well organised and lacked any of the chaos witnessed during earlier releases.
Nor did the hostages look as emaciated as the three released last week. Israelis know that Alexander Troufanov, Yair Horn, and Sagui Dekel-Chen have been through hell, but this morning they breathed a sigh of relief that the hostages appeared to be in better physical shape.
But that doesn’t mean that the handover, conducted amid a sea of flags and slogans, was easy to watch.
The displays of weaponry (some Palestinian militants were brandishing Israeli-made assault rifles), the slogans and serried ranks of gunmen in freshly pressed uniforms were all designed to project power and authority.
For some Israelis, this will have served to reinforce the belief that Israel should crush Hamas once and for all.
Others will argue that after 16 months of the Israeli military’s furious assault on Gaza, “total victory” remains an illusion that cannot and should not be pursued.
But three more hostages are back home. And that, for everyone, is something to celebrate.
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Ramallah
Ten men have been released here in Ramallah today.
I watched as one was brought by stretcher into a waiting ambulance, surrounded by journalists and onlookers, and taken away.
An official here with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society tells me five of the men have been taken to hospital.
“They all have chronic illnesses,” Mohammad Faqih says, adding that one man had a broken leg.
All of the men released here were serving long sentences, convicted of offences including attempted murder and “service to an illegal organisation”.
A photo released by the IDF today shows Sagui Dekel-Chen reunited with his wife, Avital
When American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, his wife was eight months pregnant with their third child.
Dekel-Chen smiled as Israeli officials told him he had one-year-old daughter, according to Israel's Channel 12.
Asked about his medical condition, Dekel-Chen reportedly replied: "I’m great, I’m great, I have a daughter."
"Our Sagui is home. A friend, son, partner and most importantly a father has returned," his family said in a statement.
They also thanked the "people of Israel and everyone who joined in the struggle" to bring him and other hostages back, and vow they will "continue to act until the last hostage returns home".
Sagui Dekel-Chen has now been reunited with his wife following his medical assessment at an Israeli base.
Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, in Cairo
Prisoners have already been released in the West Bank
In Gaza, preparations are under way to celebrate the release of 333 prisoners who were detained in Gaza by Israeli forces during their military operations in the Strip.
(As a reminder, 369 Palestinians are due to be released today – 36 of them serving life sentences, and 333 detained without charge in Gaza since the 7 October 2023 attacks, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office).
However, the fate of thousands of others arrested since 7 October remains unknown.
Umm Jihad Al-Maghribi says that her son, Hassan, is still missing after being detained by Israeli forces in November 2023 in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
"I didn’t see my son’s name among those released today, but I hope to get any information about him from the freed prisoners," she tells the BBC.
"I know nothing about his fate. His wife gave birth to a son five months after his arrest, and he has never seen him. I just hope to hear any news about him."
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