Israel and Hamas complete fifth hostage-detainee exchange

DW (English)

Hamas has released three more Israeli hostages who had been held in Gaza. All three are male civilians abducted during the group's October 7, 2023, terror attacks. In return, Israel freed 183 Palestinians from its prisons. The exchange is part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal that took effect in January.

Transcript

00:00Tanya Cremer is in Jerusalem for us. Tell us more about the hostages condition

00:06first of all. Well I can tell you you know when the first images appeared of

00:12them being let out of the cars and then paraded there on stage by Hamas you know

00:18people you could feel the relief obviously of people watching this but at

00:23the same time you know there's a lot of shock and anger over their very visible

00:28you know frail condition some of them you know they looked all very gaunt and

00:35frail when they appeared there so we heard from Israeli health officials

00:40some time ago they're now in Iqilof Hospital in Tel Aviv and they said

00:45they're suffering from significant malnutrition but they also have to

00:52deal now with the reality now that some of their they are now being told that

00:58some of their loved ones are no longer alive. We also heard from the Prime

01:04Minister's office shortly after the handover took place they were expressing

01:10great concern about their condition and that this will not go unaddressed that

01:14they were conveying this message to the mediators and there's certainly also a

01:19lot of pressure now after seeing those three hostages being released and their

01:25conditions as they were from the relatives and we heard also from the

01:29hostages families forum putting out a statement then now it's the time there

01:34no more postponement no revenge we are expecting leadership now putting much

01:39more pressure now on the leadership on on the government here to bring all the

01:44remaining hostages home. Tania what do we know about the condition of the

01:48Palestinian prisoners released? Well we also saw the buses then shortly after

01:55this handover of the Israeli hostages then some of the buses with Palestinians

02:02held in Israeli prisons there made their way some of them to the occupied West

02:06Bank some are also to Gaza 183 prisoners and detainees were released in this

02:13exchange we understand some of them were serving long sentences or life

02:20sentences but we also heard from rights groups there that seven of those now

02:26former detainees had to be brought to hospitals they were accusing Israeli

02:31prison service of mistreatment we also heard from the Israeli army they put out

02:37a statement that they will not allow celebrations in the occupied West Bank

02:41and that they will act against it now part of this group of people that were

02:46released today there also go to Gaza some of them have been detained after

02:52October 7 under suspicion that they were involved in the October 7 attacks but

02:57these people were not so they were released today they were held under

03:01administrative detention detention without trial and they're also going

03:05home now as part of this larger deal. According to media reports Benjamin Netanyahu

03:11has dispatched a delegation to Qatar for the next phase of the ceasefire talks is

03:15that a positive signal for the negotiations?

03:20Well it certainly tells us that I know something is moving forward usually we

03:27would have seen on day 16 already now we are in the middle of this first phase

03:32where 33 hostages will be released in exchange for Palestinian detainees but

03:39on day 16 already both sides should have been coming back to the negotiation table

03:45of course indirectly with the mediators to discuss the second phase which will

03:50then see the release of all the remaining hostages further withdrawal of

03:55the Israeli military and also talks about a more permanent ceasefire but we

04:01understand from the Israeli side at least this had been postponed until

04:04after the return of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who went to

04:08Washington this week now it's of course there has been a lot of opposition

04:12within his own cabinet we still have one far-right party there they have said

04:18they want to see the war resume they don't want to see the second phase being

04:22implemented but of course as I also said earlier there's much more pressure now

04:26from the Israeli public to go through to the second phase but the situation has

04:32become slightly more complicated now after the remarks and statements by

04:37President US President Donald Trump about quote taking over Gaza and the

04:43resettlement of 2.3 million people residents there in Gaza which is

04:49according to international law forced transfer and illegal so this has become

04:54more complicated now but we also have to say you know so far there have been ups

05:01and down in this process but so far both sides have been keeping you know the

05:06stages and so it has been moving forward but the next day certainly will be

05:11crucial to see where this is going. And we will be watching great though to get

05:16some of the details of that progress from you the very latest Tania Kramer in

05:21Jerusalem

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