Militants in the Gaza Strip released eight hostages on Thursday, handing them over to the Red Cross amid chaotic crowds as part of a swap that is set to see Palestinians released from Israeli prisons later in the day. Agam Berger, a year-old soldier, was handed over first at a site in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, followed hours later by two more Israelis and five Thai farm workers who were handed over amid a chaotic crowd in the city of Khan Younis.
The tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is aimed at ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group , as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel. Under the ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have jubilantly returned to northern Gaza over the past three days.
However, their homecoming has been bittersweet as nearly everyone has friends or relatives who died, and many northern neighborhoods have been transformed into an apocalyptic landscape of devastation by more than 15 months of war. Netanyahu demanded that mediators intervene after some hostages released Thursday were led through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants.
Israel was supposed to release Palestinian prisoners later Thursday, including around 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis. Berger, 20, was among five young female soldiers abducted when militants overran the Nahal Oz military base in the Hamas-led attack on Oct.
The other four were released Saturday. The family was reunited at a specially prepared reception area in a military base near the Gaza border. From the military base, Berger was flown to a hospital in central Israel, where she will meet her fellow released soldiers.
