Hostage and prisoner exchange to continue despite Trump’s widely rejected ‘clean-out’ plan

Jerusalem: Hamas has identified three more Israeli hostages it plans to free as part of the fragile ceasefire agreement, a sign the deal was progressing even as US and Israeli officials continued calls to relocate Gaza’s population after the war.

The three civilian men, captured by Hamas during its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, are set to be freed on Saturday, in the fifth exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel.

An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material, confirmed the hostages scheduled for release were Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34.

Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, all of whom were abducted and brought to Gaza on October 7, 2023

Israel is set to release 183 Palestinian prisoners shortly after to fulfil its side of the agreement, according to the Hamas-linked prisoners’ office in Gaza. 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 hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

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

Ben Ami is a father of three and 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. The couple’s toddler son has been under the care of family members.

A US AC-130J Ghostrider fires an AGM-114 Hellfire missile during joint aerial drills between South Korea and the United States last year. The US plans to sell 3000 Hellfire missiles to Israel.Credit: AP

Hamas has so far released 18 hostages, including five Thai citizens captured in Israel during the attack. Last week, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the deal.

The announcement came as the Trump administration announced it had approved weapon sales of more than $US7 billion ($11 billion) to Israel, including thousands of bombs, despite a Democratic lawmakers’ request that the sale be paused until he received more information.

The massive arms sale came just two days after Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Oval Office and is another step in Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks. In late January, soon after he took office, he lifted the hold on sending 900-kilogram bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an Israeli assault on Rafah in southern Gaza.

A Palestinian child carries water along the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip.Credit: AP

Trump told reporters that he released them to Israel, “because they bought them”.

According to the State Department, two sales were sent to Congress on Friday. One is for $US6.75 billion in an array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small-diameter bombs, 2800 227-kilogram bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuses and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would begin this year.

The other arms package is for 3000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $US660 million. Deliveries of the missiles are expected to begin in 2028.

Details of the planned hostage exchange came as Trump continued talking up his widely criticised proposal to remove all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination.

The idea, which Trump now characterises 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 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. 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 October 7 attack.

AP

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