Israel and Hamas completed their fifth hostage-prisoner swap under a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, with the frail, disoriented appearance of the three freed Israelis sparking dismay among their relatives.
Out of the 183 inmates released by Israel in return, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said seven required hospitalisation, decrying “brutality” and mistreatment in jail.
The fifth exchange came as negotiations are due to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which should pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
Saturday’s swap came after remarks by President Donald Trump, who said the US should take over the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants, causing global outrage.
Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were all seized by militants during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, “crossed the border into Israeli territory” on Saturday, the Israeli military said.
With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during the attack now remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military said have died.
Jubilant crowds in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv cheered as they watched live footage of the three hostages, flanked by masked gunmen, brought on stage in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
But the joy was quickly overtaken by concern for their condition, with all three appearing thin and pale.
Sharabi’s cousin, Yochi Sardinayof, said “he doesn’t look well. I’m sure he will now receive the right treatment and he will get stronger … he has an amazing family, and we will all be there for him.”
The handover included statements from the three on stage, in which they stated support for finalising the next phases of the Israel-Hamas truce.
The “disturbing images” from Gaza show that “we must get them all out”, said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.
The office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose dejected-looking portrait appeared on a banner at the Deir al-Balah handover site, said the images out of Gaza were “shocking”.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, denounced the treatment of the hostages, who were paraded on stage “after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained” and “exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle”.
Sharabi, 52, and Ben Ami, a 56-year-old dual German citizen, were abducted from their homes in kibbutz Be’eri when militants stormed the small community near the Gaza border.
Sharabi lost his wife and two daughters in the attack. Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where gunmen murdered his wife.
In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, relatives and supporters gathered to welcome inmates released by Israel, embracing them and cheering as they stepped off the bus that brought them from nearby Ofer prison.
Israel’s prison service said that “183 terrorists … were released” to the West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and the Palestinian Red Crescent said seven of them had been admitted to hospital in the West Bank.
“All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care … as a result of the brutality they were subjected” to in jail, said the advocacy group, which has long complained of alleged abuses of Palestinians in Israeli custody.
In a statement, Hamas accused Israel of “systematic assaults and mistreatment of our prisoners”, calling it “part of the policy of … the slow killing of prisoners”.
Gaza militants have so far freed 21 hostages in exchange for hundreds of mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Five Thai hostages freed last week from Gaza were discharged on Saturday from a hospital in central Israel, where they had been treated since their release, and were headed back to their home country.
The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, aims to secure the release of 12 more hostages during its first 42-day phase.
Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were due to begin on Monday, but there have been no details on the status of the talks.
Netanyahu’s office said that after Saturday’s swap, an Israeli delegation would head to Doha for further talks.
Hama’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 48,181 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
