Palestinian resistance group Hamas set free three more Israeli hostages on Saturday, February 8 under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.
The three captives; Or Levy, Eliyahu Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami, were handed over by Hamas fighters to Red Cross representatives in the central city of Deir al-Balah.
One of the freed captives appeared in an Israeli army military uniform while the two others dressed in brown clothes, according to an Anadolu reporter.
The Red Cross representatives signed documents to receive the captives and took them in vehicles to hand them over to the Israeli army.
The Israeli army confirmed that it received the three freed hostages from the Red Cross and transferred them out of Gaza to a military facility near the border for an initial medical checkup.
Ahead of the handover, the captives appeared on a stage, surrounded by Hamas fighters and holding up release certificates. Banners on the stage read: “We are the flood, we are the war’s next day.”
“The great scenes of the handover process and the resistance’s messages about the next day confirm that our people and their resistance will remain superior and that the next day is a Palestinian day par excellence, bringing us closer to returning freedom and self-determination,” Hamas said in a statement.
“Our Palestinian people…confirm their rejection of all (US President Donald) Trump’s projects of displacement and occupation, and their firm determination to thwart them.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the release of the three hostages but said he would not accept what he called the “harsh images” seen in their handover.
“The shocking images we saw today will not pass without response,” his office said in a statement, without elaborating.
The Israeli army is set to free 183 Palestinian prisoners in a swap for the three captives.
Sixteen Israeli captives and five Thai workers have so far been released under the Gaza ceasefire in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Many of the Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli captivity appeared in poor health conditions, with many exhibiting significant weight loss.
On Saturday, the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor accused the Israeli prison authorities of depriving Palestinian detainees of medical treatment throughout their imprisonment.
The Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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