Documents signed at Gaza City square
A Hamas fighter and a member of the Red Cross can be seen signing documents on a stage erected at Palestine Square in Gaza City.
Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross prepare to sign a document as Hamas prepares to hand over Israeli captives
Israeli captives handed over in Gaza City square
Four female Israeli captives have appeared on a stage in Gaza City’s Palestine Square.
They smiled, alongside fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, before being handed over to the Red Cross.
Four female Israeli soldiers, who had been held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are released, in Gaza City, January 25
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.
- Ariev, 20, is from Jerusalem. She 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.
- Gilboa, 20, is from Petah Tikva in central Israel. She 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.
- Levy, 20, is from Ra’anana in central Israel. She had reportedly just begun her military service when Hamas attacked. Hours after her abduction, she appeared in a Hamas video that showed her being bundled into a Jeep.
- Albag, 19, is from Moshav Yeruhav in central Israel. She was also serving as an army lookout at the Nahal Oz base. She was believed by her family to have been hiding from a rocket barrage in a field shelter during the Hamas-led attack. Albag was later identified in a Telegram video of captives published by Hamas that day.
Red Cross convoy transports Israeli captives
The Red Cross vehicles holding the released Israeli soldiers have begun to leave Gaza City’s Palestine Square, amid cheers from the crowd.
“This is a historic moment,” reports Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili from the scene.
Israeli army says four released captives back in Israel
The Israeli army says the four released captives have now crossed into Israel.
“Today, as part of these ongoing efforts, we’ve welcomed home four more Israeli hostages after 477 days in Hamas captivity,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.
The captives are going to go to an Israeli military base along the edge of Gaza where they will have preliminary treatment, before being flown in helicopters to a hospital where they will be treated.
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