By By Micheal Chukwuebuka
AS part of the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Hamas, on Saturday, released four female Israeli soldiers who had been held hostage after the militants paraded them in front of a crowd of thousands in Gaza City. They were handed over to the Red Cross.
In exchange, Stonix News reports that Israel also released 200 Palestinian prisoners.
In a video that went viral, the four Israelis smiled broadly as they waved and gave the thumbs-up from a stage in Gaza City’s Palestine Square, militants on either side of them and a crowd of thousands watching before they were led off to waiting Red Cross vehicles.
They were likely acting under duress, with previously released hostages saying they were held in brutal conditions and forced to record propaganda videos.
Israel’s Prison Service later said it had completed the release of 200 Palestinians. They included 121 who had been serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis.
According to Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV, around 70 were released into Egypt. Egypt had served as a key mediator in the talks that led to the truce.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah to celebrate the arrival of buses carrying the prisoners. Many waved Palestinian flags or the flags of different political factions.
As the four Israelis were released, hundreds of people cheered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square where they were watching the drama unfold on a big screen television.
“I had goosebumps watching them,” said Aviv Bercovich, one of the onlookers. “I just want the war to end.”
The freed hostages were taken to an Israeli army base, where they were reunited with their parents, and could be seen in pictures hugging them emotionally.
As they arrived by helicopter to a Tel Aviv hospital, thousands of people dancing and celebrating outside outside looked up to see them land.
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