Hamas and Israel to hold fifth hostage-prisoner exchange on Saturday

Hamas and Israel are due to exchange hostages for prisoners later on Saturday, the fifth such swap since both sides agreed to a fragile ceasefire which came into force on 19 January.

Hamas has said it will release Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy, three men captured during the 7 October 2023 incursion into southern Israel which sparked the war in Gaza.

Sharabi was taken captive from Kibbutz Beeri, a communal farm that was one of the hardest hit in the Hamas attack. His wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters were killed by militants.

Father of three Ben Ami was taken hostage from the same community, where he was the kibbutz accountant. His wife, who was also captured, was released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023.

Levy, a computer programmer from the city of Rishon Lezion, was pulled by militants from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival in southern Israel. His wife was killed during the attack.

In return, Israel says it will release 183 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.

The terms of the deal’s first six-week phase call for Hamas to gradually free a total of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for aroundd 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has so far released 18 hostages, including five Thai citizens captured in Israel during the attack.

Israel has released 383 Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the deal.

Details of the planned exchange came as US President Donald Trump continued talking up his widely criticised proposal to move all Palestinians out of Gaza and redevelop the Strip as an international travel destination.

The idea, which Trump characterised as a “real estate transaction,” has been roundly rejected by the region’s Arab governments and by Palestinians themselves, who say forcing them from their homes would constitute ethnic cleansing.

But Trump insisted on Friday that his idea “had been very well received.”

After calling originally for “permanent” resettlement of the Palestinians, his newest comments left the question of duration unresolved.

“We don’t want to see everybody move back and then move out in 10 years” because of continued unrest, he said.

Israeli forces have withdrawn from most of Gaza, as specified by the ceasefire agreement, but remain in border areas.

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The military has warned Palestinians to avoid areas where troops are operating and has opened fire on people accused of violating the terms of the agreement.

Negotiators have yet to agree on terms for the deal’s second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in return for more prisoners and a lasting ceasefire.

The Palestinian prisoners’ office said that of those set for release on Saturday, 18 are serving life sentences, 54 have long-term sentences and 111 are Gazans who were detained after the 7 October attack.

A list of those expected to be released, distributed Friday by Palestinian authorities, included 49-year-old Iyad Abu Shakhdam, who has been imprisoned for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas militant attacks that killed dozens of Israelis in the early 2000s.

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Also on the list is Jamal al-Tawil, 61, a Hamas politician and former mayor of the West Bank city of Al-Bireh who has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli prisons.

Since his most recent arrest in 2021, he has been held without trial for allegedly organising violent riots.