3 Israeli hostages freed, but Netanyahu blasts Hamas for “shocking scenes,” delays Palestinian prisoner release

Tel Aviv — Three more Israeli hostages — two females and an 80-year-old man — were released in Gaza Thursday as the third hostages-for-prisoners swap agreed to by Israel and Hamas got underway, but the chaotic nature of the handover of two of the Israelis angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the extent that he delayed his country’s part of the exchange until later in the day. 

Israel did start releasing Palestinian detainees from the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank later Thursday, keeping to its part of the third exchange amid the ongoing ceasefire. Buses carrying the what was expected to be 110 prisoners freed on Thursday were seen leaving the prison about two hours after Netanyahu’s spokesman said he had “instructed to delay the release of the terrorists scheduled to be released today — until the safe exit of our hostages is guaranteed in the next few days.”

Netanyahu’s office released a subsequent statement saying that, following his demand, ceasefire mediators had “passed a commitment according to which a safe exit will be guaranteed for our abductees who will be released in the next installments. Israel insists that lessons will be learned and that in future times there will be extra care to return our abductees safely.”

There were some Palestinians among those being released Thursday who had been accused and, in some cases, convicted of serious crimes against Israelis, including murder. Most of the prisoners were being released and allowed to remain in the West Bank, but some were being sent to third countries, according to Israeli officials.

The Israeli military confirmed that five Thai nationals were also released Thursday by militants in Gaza, as had been expected, as part of a separate agreement.  

The first Israeli released early Thursday was female soldier Agam Berger, 20. She was handed over in a relatively orderly fashion amid the ruins of the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza. Berger was the final hostage from an unarmed, all-female Israeli military unit that had been working to surveil Gaza. 

Seven women from Berger’s unit were taken hostage during Hamas’ Oct. 7 2023 attack on Israel, which saw militants kill about 1,200 people and take a total of 251 others hostage.

Israel’s military response to the attack has killed more than 47,300 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and decimated the Palestinian territory, displacing virtually all of its population and causing a wide scale humanitarian crisis.

Berger was escorted by militants out of the back of a destroyed building in Jabalia. Wearing an outfit that resembled green military fatigues, she was handed over to members of the Red Cross. Photos shared later by the Israeli military showed her reunited with her parents.

Two other Israeli hostages released Thursday were Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, who was the oldest of the hostages. All three of the freed hostages had been transferred from Red Cross care to Israeli forces on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed.

In a joint statement, the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency said Yehoud and Moses, along with the Thai nationals, had “crossed the border into Israeli territory” and were on their way to a reception point in southern Israel. The statement said Yehoud and Moses would be reunited with their families there, as Berger was earlier, while the five Thai nationals would be met by officials from Thailand’s government.

Video showed Yehoud being transferred to the Red Cross, more than an hour after Berger’s release, in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis amid scenes of mayhem. Yehoud and Moses had been held by the militant group Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas.

A huge crowd had gathered in Khan Younis to witness the handover, which took place near the home of deceased Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar. Dozens of armed militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad paraded through the area and the handover of the prisoners was chaotic, with armed militants, photographers and civilians crowding around the hostages as they were moved to the waiting Red Cross vehicles.

Netanyahu released a statement condemning the “shocking scenes,” calling the crush of people around the hostages “another proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the terrorist organization Hamas.”

“I demand from the mediators to make sure that such threats will not happen again, and to guarantee the safety of our abductees,” said Netanyahu.

In its own statement posted online, Hamas called the large crowds, “a message of determination and defiance raised in the face of this barbaric occupier. It says our people will remain on their land, and are determined to accomplish their project of liberation, return, and self-determination.”

Hamas did not immediately react to Netanyahu’s order to delay the release of 110 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

Netanyahu’s order marked the second delay in the hostage and prisoner swap process laid out by the ceasefire agreement that the Israeli leader blamed on Hamas.

Under to the terms of the deal, Yehoud should have been among the four women released during the second exchange, on Jan. 24. After that release last weekend, the terms of the agreement stipulated that Israel would release a number of Palestinian prisoners from jails and allow Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza, across the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the north and south of the enclave.

When Yehoud wasn’t among those released last weekend, Israel said it would not allow Palestinians to cross the Netzarim Corridor. After a quick negotiation process, Hamas agreed to carry out Thursday’s previously unscheduled hostage release, to include Yehoud.

In anticipation of the release and according to the new agreement, Israel started allowing Palestinians to cross the Netzarim Corridor into northern Gaza on Monday. 

Tens of thousands of people have made their way back to the north, most of them on foot, some finding the ruins of their homes and the remains of loved ones, but also reuniting with family members they haven’t been able to see in months.

Hamas and its allies are expected to release a total of 33 Israeli hostages during the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, which took effect on Jan. 19. It is hoped that negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of the ceasefire plan will start to yield progress soon.

The next exchange, which will be the fourth, is scheduled to take place on Saturday. Netanyahu has said that will include the release of male hostages in Gaza.

The release of the three people on Thursday left 82 hostages — both living and dead — still in Gaza, according to Israeli officials, including seven dual U.S. nationals: Keith Siegel, 65, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut; and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey. Four other Americans are believed to have been killed. It remains unclear when any of the Americans might be released.

Senior Hamas political official Bassem Naim told CBS News on Wednesday that the group remained committed to the ceasefire agreement, “and we will do our best to make it work and will try to overcome the obstacles and challenges, but we expect that the Israelis will keep trying to find reasons to stop implementing the deal, partly to cover up their failure in achieving any of their goals in Gaza, or due to the scenes that showed the will of the people in Gaza.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that freed Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud is not a soldier, as previously stated.

Ahmed Shawkat

contributed to this report.