The first group of hostages held by Hamas were released to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday afternoon local time and transported to the care of Shin Bet security forces, according to multiple outlets.
The hostages, composed of 13 women and children, were reportedly carried in Red Cross ambulances passing through the Rafah border crossing bound for Israel via Egypt after 49 days in captivity. If the deal continues without any escalation in the conflict, an additional 37 Israelis are expected to be released over the coming days as a cease-fire holds and humanitarian aid enters the Gaza Strip.
First look on a night of anticipatipn: ICRC vehicles carrying elderly and others across Rafah border crossing. Filmed by NPR producer in Gaza, Anas Baba. pic.twitter.com/4Njg33MaBS
— Daniel Estrin (@DanielEstrin) November 24, 2023
In exchange, Israel had agreed to release 150 Palestinian prisoners, all of whom are women and minors, currently being held on various levels of terror-related criminal offenses. Thirty-nine Palestinians are expected to be returned on the first day of the deal. A crowd waiting outside the Ofer prison in the West Bank to greet those released in the first tranche of the agreement were reportedly tear-gassed by Israeli security forces.
Despite the smooth first transaction, Israeli minister Benny Gantz vowed to resume the war effort once the deal is concluded. “I want to assure the families of all the hostages: We will not stop, we will resume the efforts and the military action in Gaza to retrieve the hostages and restore deterrence,” the minister told a crowd holding a solidarity demonstration in Tel Aviv for the released hostages.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, based in Qatar, vowed to uphold the deal, underscoring the terrorist group’s war aims. “Hamas will pursue its effort to halt the Israeli assault on Gaza, complete the prisoner exchange, end the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and ‘attack’ on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in addition to enabling the Palestinian people to realize their legitimate national right for an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, self-determination, and the return” of Palestinian refugees.
On Sunday, U.S. deputy national-security adviser Jonathan Finer said that the negotiations to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas were being ironed out and that a deal was near.
“What I can say at this point is that some of the outstanding areas of disagreement, very complicated, very sensitive negotiation has been narrowed,” Finer said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “That I believe we are closer than we have been in quite some time, maybe closer than we have been since the beginning of this process to getting this deal done and we are following it minute by minute, hour by hour and have been for a number of weeks.”
Israel maintains over 240 hostages are in Hamas’s custody, likely scattered across its underground network of terror tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
A dozen Thai workers kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 were also released as part of Friday’s deal.