The names of the four female Israeli soldiers who will be exchanged on Saturday for Palestinian prisoners have been released by Hamas.
This is the second of such exchanges that are to run the course of the first two phases of a three-stage ceasefire agreed this month.
Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag were all taken prisoner on October 7, 2023, during Hamas-led assaults on army outposts and villages in southern Israel. They will now be exchanged for 200 of the roughly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners waiting to be released from Israeli prisons during the first six-week phase of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire, which came into effect on Sunday.
Under the terms of the agreement, Israel agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for each Israeli soldier being held in Gaza and 30 for any of the other female captives during the first phase of the ceasefire. The remaining captives will be released during the second phase of the agreement, negotiations for which are due to commence on February 4.
A third phase is intended to focus on the rebuilding and long-term governance of Gaza.
Ariev, 20, was serving at the Nahal Oz army base, about 1km (0.6 miles) from the boundary with Gaza at the time of her abduction. In July – hoping to put pressure on the Israeli government, which many of the captives’ families felt was stalling on their release – her parents released an image provided to them by Hamas purporting to show Ariev during her first few days of captivity.
In the undated image, Ariev can be seen sitting with her head bandaged alongside Albag, Agam Berger and Gilboa, who also had a bandage on her head.
She was later identified by her parents from a video published on Telegram that day by Hamas. Her abduction was confirmed by the Israeli military about 48 hours later
Gilboa, 20, was also at the Nahal Oz base. Gilboa featured in a video released by Hamas in July, appealing to the Israeli government to bring her and the other captives home.
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