Hamas and Israel carry out fifth prisoner swap under Gaza ceasefire deal

Israel and Hamas recently completed a prisoner exchange, the latest in a series of exchanges aimed at securing a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza war.

Under the agreement, Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday morning. The Israel Prison Service subsequently confirmed that it had released 183 Palestinians, stating that those released were "transferred from several prisons across the country" before being sent to the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

This exchange is the fifth under the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on January 19. However, the fragility of the agreement is increasingly apparent due to U.S. President Trump's proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Hamas handed over the Israeli hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross during a carefully orchestrated event on Saturday morning.

The three released Israeli male civilians were identified as 52-year-old Eli Sharabi, 34-year-old Or Levi, and 56-year-old Ohad Ben Ami. They were released under the first phase of the truce agreement, which ended in early March. Prior to the handover, they appeared on a stage set up in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, surrounded by armed members of the Qassam Brigades and holding release certificates. A banner on the stage read: "We are the flood, we are the tomorrow of war."

Al Jazeera's Tariq Abu Azzoum reported that crowds chanted slogans in support of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades. Shortly after the Israelis were released, television footage showed a bus leaving Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of released Palestinians got off in the town of Ramallah, where they were greeted by cheering crowds.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Association said that seven of the released Palestinians were taken to hospital after arriving in Ramallah. Another seven will be transferred to Egypt before being deported. Among those released were senior Hamas figures. Iyad Abu Shahdan, 49, was sentenced to nearly 21 years in prison for his involvement in Hamas attacks against Israel during the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. Jamal Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank and former mayor of El-Bireh village near Ramallah, has been detained by Israel multiple times, most recently without charge.

Photos of the released men showed the three Israelis looking gaunt and frail after enduring 16 months of hardship. "The disturbing images of Ohad, Eli and Or being released provide yet more stark and painful evidence, if any were needed – there is not a moment to waste! We must bring all the hostages home, until the very last one. Act now!" the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

According to a military statement, the three men were quickly transferred to Israeli military and intelligence officials, who "escorted" them back to Israel with elite forces. Sharabi and Ben Ami are from Kibbutz Be'eri, which was targeted by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and resulted in 250 being taken captive. Levi was abducted at the Nova music festival.

Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said that the first hostage released spoke in Hebrew in front of armed Hamas fighters, calling on the Israeli government to continue with the second and third phases of the agreement. "Most of the Israeli public wants that too," she said. At Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israelis were "holding their breath" in anticipation. "It has become a symbolic place for the families of those who have been captured... and also the wider Israeli public who have been campaigning for the release of the hostages and trying to put pressure on (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu... to abide by this agreement."

The Israeli military reportedly raided the homes of some of the Palestinians due to be released in the West Bank overnight. The Palestinian Information Center said that a house in the village of Deir Nizam, northwest of Ramallah, was among those targeted, while "dozens" were arrested in the city of Qalqilya.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which lasts 42 days, calls for the release of 33 Israeli hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The agreement has so far remained in effect, despite the uproar caused by Trump's proposal to clear Gaza of its residents and take over the territory. To date, 18 Israeli hostages and 550 Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged. But there are fears that Trump's plan could complicate negotiations on the second, and more difficult, phase, in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire.

It is believed that Hamas has little incentive to give up the bargaining chips represented by the hostages if the U.S. and Israel are potentially planning an ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip. The third phase of the agreement calls for the reconstruction of Gaza, but U.S. officials have also recently raised significant questions about this. The first phase of the ceasefire also included the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the territory. Last week, injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt for the first time since May.

It is unclear whether Israel and Hamas have begun negotiations on the second phase, and there are fears that the devastating war, which has killed more than 61,709 people in Gaza, including at least 14,222 missing and presumed dead, could resume in early March. During a week-long ceasefire in November 2023, more than 100 hostages held by Hamas were released. However, more than 70 remain in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.