Who are the female Israeli soldiers being released by Hamas?

Hamas has made the names of the four Israeli soldiers whose names will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners on Saturday public.

The first two phases of a three-stage ceasefire that were reached this month will be followed by this exchange, which is the second of these.

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. During the first six-week period of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire, which ended on Sunday, they will now be exchanged for 200 of the roughly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners who are awaiting release from Israeli prisons.

In the first phase of the ceasefire, Israel agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for each Israeli soldier in custody in Gaza and 30 for any other female prisoners. The second phase of the agreement is scheduled to start on February 4, and the negotiations will begin with the release of the captives.

The reconstruction and long-term governance of Gaza are the subjects of a third phase.

What are the rumors that Israeli women will be released?

Ariev, 20, was serving at the Nahal Oz army base, about 1km (0.6 miles) from the boundary with Gaza at the time of her abduction. Her parents released an image from Hamas purporting to show Ariev during her first few days of captivity in July in an effort to pressure the Israeli government, which many of the captives’ families believed was putting a damper on their release.

Ariev can be seen sitting with her head bandaged alongside Albag, Agam Berger, and Gilboa, all of whom had their heads bandaged in the untitled image.

Her parents later recognized her based on a Hamas video that was broadcast on Telegram that day. About 48 hours later, the Israeli military confirmed her abduction.

Gilboa, 20, was also at the Nahal Oz base. Gilboa was referred to in a Hamas video in July, where she appealed to the Israeli government to release her and the other prisoners.

Levy, 19 at the time of her capture and now 20, had just begun her military service when Hamas attacked, the BBC quoted her mother as saying. She was allegedly bundled into a Jeep in a Hamas video hours after being abducted.

Albag, 19, was serving as an army lookout at the Nahal Oz base. During the Hamas-led attack, her family believed she was hiding out in a field shelter from a rocket barrage. Later, Albag was identified in a Hamas-published Telegram video of captives.

Of the female soldiers taken, only 21-year-old Berger will remain in captivity if Saturday’s exchange goes as planned. In the initial exchange on Sunday, three more female soldiers were released.

What was the initial prisoner exchange’s response?

It was mixed.

69 women and 21 children were among the early-morning celebrations of the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank on Monday. Numerous people expressed their joy over reuniting with friends and family members. While cheers and whistles accompanied the newly released prisoners, crowds tucked them in.

Amanda Abu Sharkh, 23, was only there to witness the Red Cross’s buses carrying the prisoners’ arrival in Ramallah. According to Abu Sharkh, “We came here to witness it and feel the emotions,” the prisoners’ families are currently being released.

“We feel like family to all the prisoners who are currently being released today. They are part of us, even if they’re not blood relatives”, she said.

In contrast, the intense relief of many Israelis over Sunday’s return of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari was mixed with anger and resentment from a sizeable minority who saw the exchange as a defeat in Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed at least 47, 283 Palestinians.

Israeli settlers attacked six villages in the West Bank on Tuesday, attacking homes, shops, cars, and buses with firebombs, and incensed Israeli settlers attacked the town and refugee camp of Jenin.

Why did Israeli forces tell Palestinians to refrain from celebrating the releases?

That would be a concern for them.

There have been several reports of police visiting the homes of Palestinian prisoners, removing flags, signs and sweets and ejecting anyone, including journalists, who are not close family members. Reports also surfaced about journalist scuffles involving the return of Palestinians’ loved ones.

Besides being summoned to police stations, family members of prisoners who had been released were also reportedly cautioned against holding events or marches to honor their release. Additionally, family members informed Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that the police had instructed them not to make any media appearances or to postpone interviews.

The prisoners themselves were also impacted by Israel’s resolve to prevent the exchange from being portrayed as a defeat. The women were forced to kneel on the ground for hours before being freed, according to Pula Hassanein, who was later released on Monday, and watched a 90-second video that read, “This is not a victory for you.” We have destroyed and killed in Gaza, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iran. We killed]your] leadership”, she recalled.

“We were not allowed to look left or right, only at the screen”, she told CNN.

Why were Palestinian prisoners detained?

According to the Israeli NGO HaMoked, being arrested by the Israeli authorities for any infraction, no matter how slight, is routine for Palestinians.

40 percent of all male Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces, according to a 2017 report from the prisoners’ rights organization Adameer.

HaMoked said this month that 10, 221 Palestinians were jailed by Israel, of whom 3, 376 were being held under administrative detention. In some cases, Israeli authorities release prisoners without giving an explanation of what they are being held for. This is done by administrative detention.

Dania Hanatsheh was one of the many people who had been detained on Monday and placed in administrative detention. “Palestinian families are prepared to be arrested at any moment”, Hanatsheh, who said she has never been told why she had been detained, told US-based ABC News. “You feel helpless, like you can’t do anything to protect yourself”.

What kind of conditions exist for Palestinian prisoners?

Dire ones.

Shatha Jarabaa, 24, who was arrested in August for a social media post that Israeli authorities deemed “incitement” told the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper that she had lost 14kg (31lb) during five months of imprisonment.

“The treatment in prison was so bad”, she told the newspaper. “Each prisoner had only one outfit. The detention facility’s interior was bitterly cold. Inside the cells, rain would fall on us. My arrest was illogical and unjustified. The charge involved the posting of Quranic verses on social media and their support for terrorist organizations.

Because of the prisoners inside Gaza, it was necessary to place as many women in the Israeli prisons as possible. Because we were held hostage against our will and without any compelling charges, we were also held hostage.

Rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Israel’s B’Tselem have been vocal critics of the Israeli prison system and the conditions in which Palestinians are imprisoned.

Over the course of the war, there have been numerous rapes reported. Many of Israel’s leading politicians took to the streets in August to protest accusations that soldiers had gang-raped a Palestinian detainee against their accusation. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese referred to prominent Palestinian surgeon Adnan Al-Bursh as likely to have been “raped to death” a few months later.

Likely raped to death.
A doctor. A stellar surgeon. the epitome of Palestinian morality.
Likely raped to death.

The racism of Western politicians and journalists who do not cover this, as well as the thousands of other testimonials and… pictures. twitter.com/IRpCSi9nVZ

Dr. Al-Bursh was a prisoner at the time of his death, just outside of Ramallah, where many of the women and children who were released this week were being held.

Source: Aljazeera