Israelis call for the return of the hostages at a rally in May 2024. Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP
- Hamas has named another four Israeli hostages it will release under the Israel-Gaza ceasefire agreement.
- Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy - all aged 20 - and Liri Albag, 19, are expected to be freed on Saturday (local time).
- The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners on the ceasefire's first day last Sunday.
Hamas has provided Israel with the names of four female hostages it will release on Saturday.
Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy - all 20 years old - and Liri Albag, aged 19, will be the next hostages to go free.
The women are all soldiers, and will be the second group released from captivity in Gaza after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force last Sunday.
Their return will trigger the release of more Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails, with the terms of the six week truce specifying 50 Palestinians would be freed for each Israeli soldier released by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has confirmed it has received the names, and will respond later.
Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher were all released last weekend. Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Form/Facebook
The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release on the ceasefire's first day last Sunday of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners, the first such exchange for more than a year.
In the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released, officials have said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for the four.
Since the release of the three women on Sunday and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November, 2023.
In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.
Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, when militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.
This story was originally published by ABC News.
