The Hamas movement, classified as a terrorist organization in America and European countries, on Saturday handed over four Israeli hostages in their military uniform, indicating that they were female recruits for the Red Cross teams in Palestine Square in the center of Gaza City, as part of the second batch of the exchange deal.

The female recruits are Karina Arayev, Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa, and Liri Albag, according to Al-Hurra’s correspondent.

The Israeli army announced that it had received the four female soldiers from the Red Cross, and said that they had met with their families and would undergo an initial medical evaluation.

In turn, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said: “The army is working to return all the kidnapped people, living and dead, and we want confirmations from Hamas about the status of hostage Ariel Yehud.”

Haghari added: “Hamas did not commit to returning the detainees agreed to be released.”

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Today, Israel received four female soldiers kidnapped from the terrorist Hamas movement, and in return it will release security prisoners according to the agreed upon formula.”

He added, "Under the agreement, Israel will not allow Gazans to cross into the northern Gaza Strip until the release of citizen Erbil Yehud, who was supposed to be released today, is arranged."

Reuters quoted a leader in the Hamas movement as saying that the movement informed the mediators that the Israeli citizen detained in the Gaza Strip, Erbil Yehud, will be released next Saturday.

On the other hand, the Israeli Prison Service announced that it had released 200 Palestinian detainees, including those sentenced to life sentences.

According to the Israeli Prison Service, the detainees will be divided into two groups. The first will be released from “Ofer” prison in the West Bank, and the second will be released from “Katsaot” prison in the south. They will be released at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and both operations will be in coordination with the Red Cross, according to the reporter. .

On Saturday, Israel released 200 Palestinian detainees in its prisons in exchange for the four female soldiers, as part of an exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, according to what Palestinian sources confirmed to Agence France-Presse.

The list of detainees includes 120 prisoners serving life sentences, according to sources who requested to remain anonymous.

Hamas said that “70 of the Palestinian detainees who will be released today will be transferred out of Gaza and the West Bank.”

Under the ceasefire agreement, the first phase of the three-stage deal is scheduled to last six weeks with the return of 33 hostages from Gaza in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian detainees.

At the end of last week, Hamas released three hostages in exchange for the release of 90 Palestinian detainees in Israel. 

Under the first stage, the remaining number of hostages who are supposed to be released will have reached 26. A list of the names of the Israeli hostages was handed over, but without specifying any timetable for their release.

The attack carried out by the Hamas movement on Israeli bases and sites on October 7, 2023, resulted in the killing of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to a census conducted by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli data. During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped, dozens of whom are still detained in the Gaza Strip, and the army announced the killing or death of 34 of them.