US envoy due in Beirut to continue de-escalation talks

DEIR EL-BALAH, Palestinian Territories: Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday, the fifth group freed under a fragile Gaza ceasefire, with Israel condemning their “cruel” handover and worrying physical appearance.

With Israel expected to release 183 prisoners in exchange, AFP journalists in the occupied West Bank saw a bus carrying freed Palestinians leave an Israeli jail and later arriving in the city of Ramallah.

A bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s Ofer prison has arrived in the occupied West Bank, live footage showed on Saturday.

The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month comes as negotiations are set to begin on a more permanent end to the war.

It came after President Donald Trump floated a proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants, sparking global outrage.

Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were all seized by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the 15-month war, “crossed the border into Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said.

Jubilant crowds in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv cheered as they watched live footage of the three hostages, flanked by masked gunmen, brought on stage in Deir El-Balah before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

But the joy of their release was quickly overtaken by concern for their condition, with all three appearing thin and pale.

The choreographed handover included forced statements from the three on stage, in which they stated support for finalizing the next phases of the Israel-Hamas truce.

“The disturbing images... serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt – there is no time to waste for the hostages! We must get them all out,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose dejected-looking image appeared on a banner at the Deir El-Balah handover site, said that the images out of Gaza were “shocking.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog denounced the treatment of the hostages who were paraded on stage, calling it “a crime against humanity.”

“The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli – returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained – being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers,” Herzog said on X.

Sharabi, 52, was at his home in kibbutz Beeri with his British-born wife and their two daughters when militants stormed it.

The armed men shot their dog, before locking the family in their safe room and setting it on fire. The bodies of his wife and two daughters were later identified.

Ben Ami, who has dual Israeli-German citizenship, turned 56 in captivity. He was abducted from his home in Beeri along with his wife, who was released during the war’s first truce in November 2023.

Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where gunmen murdered his wife.

Former hostage Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week by Hamas militants in Gaza, on Friday urged Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, I’m now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home,” Bibas said in his first public message following his release.

Hamas previously said his wife Shiri and his two sons Ariel and Kfir – the youngest hostages – were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government on Friday to stick with the Gaza truce, even as Trump’s comments sparked backlash across the Middle East and beyond.

“An entire nation demands to see the hostages return home,” the Israeli campaign group said in a statement.

“Now is the time to ensure the agreement is completed – until the very last one,” it added.

Palestinian militants have so far freed 21 hostages in exchange for hundreds of mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.

The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 11 more hostages during the first 42-day phase of the agreement.

Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were set to begin on Monday, but there have been no details on the status of the talks.

Netanyahu’s office said that after Saturday’s swap, an Israeli delegation will head to Doha for further talks.

The second phase aims to secure the release of more hostages and pave the way for a permanent end to the war.

During their October 2023 attack, militants took 251 hostages to Gaza. Seventy-three remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 47,583 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

– with Reuters

WASHINGTON: The State Department has formally told Congress that it plans to sell more than $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
The massive arms sale comes as a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas holds, even as Trump continues to tout his widely criticized proposal to move all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination.
The sale 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 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Trump told reporters that he released them to Israel, “because they bought them.”
According to the State Department, two separate sales were sent to Congress on Friday. One is for $6.75 billion in an array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small diameter bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuzes and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would begin this year.
The other arms package is for 3,000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million. Deliveries of the missiles are expected to begin in 2028.