Palestine-based Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday as part of the second hostage release of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag were serving as observers at the Nahal Oz army base on the border with Gaza on 7 October, 202, when Hamas attacked Israel and captured them.
Hours before being released, the four women--dressed in army green-- were paraded before a crowd of thousands in Gaza City. They were then transferred to the Red Cross vans, which brought them back home to Israel. In exchange, Israel later released 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Liri (19), Naama (20), Karina (20), and Daniella (20) were among the first to be abducted by Hamas-led forces, who killed around 1,200 people and dragged another 250 into the enclave. The first few hours of the assault on the army base were filmed by Hamas forces, which showed the four women in their pyjamas, covered in blood, while they were handcuffed against a wall.
The video of their capture was rereleased by their families in May in an attempt to increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a hostage release deal with Hamas. It was re-released by Israel on Sunday in a post on X, hours after the four women reunited with their families.
"Hamas wants you to forget the images of Liri, Daniella, Karina, and Naama on October 7-dragged from their beds in bloodstained pajamas, their hands bound by Hamas terrorists. We will not let this happen," read the caption of the post.
In the video, one of the women can be heard telling her captor that she has friends in Palestine. When the Hamas fighter asked them to remain quit, the other woman told him that she wanted to call her friend in Gaza.
As per media reports, during their 477 days in Hamas captivity, Daniella, Liri, Naama and Karina were kept in civilian apartments and tunnels, in poor sanitary conditions. They were also reportedly forced to cook and clean for their captors, sometimes even while receiving little food for themselves.
Three other female soldiers --Agam Berger, Noa Marciano and Ori Megidish-- were also taken hostage with them. While Megidish was rescued alive by the Israeli military in late October 2023, Marciano was reportedly killed by her captors near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israel believes Berger is also presumably alive and still in captivity in Gaza.
