New prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel today

(Patria) - Hamas yesterday announced the names of three Israeli hostages it will release today in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, after a delay that showed how fragile the agreement to end the war in Gaza is.

Ohad Ben Ami (56) and Eli Sharabi (52), hostages abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri during Hamas’s cross-border attack, and Or Levy (34), a hostage abducted from the Nova music festival, will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas announced.

Eighteen hostages have been released since the start of the ceasefire on January 19, and Israel has released 383 prisoners in return.

Hamas says another 183 prisoners will be released today, including 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences, and 111 people detained in the Gaza Strip during the war.

Approximately 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners are expected to be released by the end of the first phase of the three-week truce. Israel says eight hostages are dead.

Hamas captured 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering the war.

At least 47,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Hamas yesterday accused Israel of delaying the entry of hundreds of trucks with food and other humanitarian supplies agreed upon as part of the truce deal.

Head of Hamas’s media office in Gaza, Salama Marouf, told a press conference in Gaza City that the “humanitarian situation remains catastrophic due to Israeli obstruction”.

He added that only 8,500 of the expected 12,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the truce came into effect.

This claim contradicts that of UN humanitarian coordinator Tom Fletcher, who said on Thursday that 10,000 trucks of food, medicine, and tents had crossed into Gaza since the truce began, which he called “a big increase”.