Hamas said on Friday that it would release four female soldiers held hostage for over a year in Gaza, as part of a hostage-for-prisoner swap set to take place on Saturday, as Israelis and Palestinians anxiously await the next steps in the deal.
In a statement, Hamas named the four women, who were abducted from a military base near Gaza during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that kicked off the war. Israel said mediators between the two sides had passed along a list of names of hostages slated for release on Saturday, without confirming their identities.
Mediators hope that the six-week truce between Israel and Hamas, which began on Sunday, could lay the foundation for a permanent end to the war in Gaza. But the coming weekend could prove a crucial test for the agreement.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel would be expected to release around 200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the four women hostages on Saturday, including some serving life sentences for involvement in attacks on Israelis.
The truce also stipulated that around the four hostages’ release, Israeli forces would have to partly withdraw from a wide zone in central Gaza to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to begin heading back to their homes in the devastated north.
And Hamas has also committed to supplying Israel on Saturday with information about the condition of the remaining hostages to be released during the six-week truce, said two Israeli officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.
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