Four Israeli soldiers held by Hamas have been released as part of a ceasefire deal that has brought an end to 15 months of brutal fighting in Gaza.

Hostages Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, all aged 20, and 19-year-old Liri Albag, were all serving with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) when they were captured.

Surrounded by armed Hamas fighters, the women waved and smiled as they were led on to a podium in Gaza City before being guided to Red Cross vehicles waiting to take them to a border point to be handed to the IDF.

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“The four returning hostages are currently being accompanied by IDF special forces and ISA forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment,” the IDF said in a statement.

“The commanders and soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces salute and embrace the returning hostages as they make their way home to the state of Israel.”

As they crossed into Israeli territory, the military said the women would be taken to an “initial reception point” where they will be “reunited with their parents”.

They are being freed by Hamas in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners, including 120 who are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis.

The ceasefire allows for thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to their communities.

However, not long after the soldiers were released, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza until hostage Arbel Yehud was released.

“Israel today received four female soldiers kidnapped from the Hamas terrorist organisation, and in exchange will release security prisoners…” his office said in a statement.

“In accordance with the agreement, Israel will not allow Gazans to cross into the northern Gaza Strip – until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud, who was supposed to be released today, is arranged.”

A Hamas official told the Reuters news agency she was alive and well and would be released next Saturday.

Israel had reportedly demanded she be on the list of the hostages released today. However, she was not included.

It is thought she might be held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the Gaza Strip.

The multi-stage fragile ceasefire deal – mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt – has so far held, winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the militant group.

Its first six-week phase includes the release of 33 out of 94 hostages – women, children, men over 50, the ill and wounded – in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Among the roughly 250 people taken from Israel during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the conflict, some have died in captivity in Gaza, while others have been released or rescued.

Read more:
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“The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abducted and missing persons,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said in a statement shortly after the soldiers’ release.

In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, a big screen showed the faces of the women.

“We are overjoyed and moved to see Naama standing strong and returning to us,” the family of Naama Levy said in a statement.

“We will not rest until the last hostage returns,” they added.

The pause in fighting – which started last Sunday and saw three hostages released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners – is also supposed to enable humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged territory.

What happens after the initial stage of the deal is uncertain.

In Gaza, Palestinians have been both celebrating the relief from the bombing and grieving the loss of loved ones and livelihoods.

Two-thirds of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or obliterated.

Thousands of returning displaced Palestinians have found their homes reduced to rubble.

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Gaza’s Hamas-run municipal governments have published their first official reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, in the latest sign that the group intends to be a leading actor in the rebuilding of the territory.

In recent days, Hamas has re-emerged as the area’s main governing authority, deploying security forces across the Gaza Strip, despite suffering severe military losses during its 15-month war with Israel.

The 200-page document, titled “Gaza Phoenix” and shared with Sky News by an official in Gaza City’s Hamas-led local government, is the first comprehensive reconstruction plan to be published since the war began.

Gaza Phoenix sets out short, medium and long-term priorities for reconstruction and development in the territory, starting almost from scratch.

The immediate priorities include formalising displacement camps, repairing hospitals, clearing rubble and restoring law and order.

There are also much more ambitious long-term proposals, including a tourism-focused economy, a green belt and even Dubai-style artificial islands.

One section, on “wartime resilience”, suggests constructing “an underground connecter” between all Gaza cities – a proposal likely to anger Israel, which has sought to destroy Hamas’s underground tunnel network.

International donors would be very unlikely to directly fund the activities of Gaza‘s Hamas-led municipal governments, a person familiar with reconstruction efforts told Sky News.

But the project could be delivered by aid groups, the source said, which have historically coordinated with Gaza’s local administrations.

Foreign donors, like the Gulf States, see reconstruction as an opportunity to have influence in post-war Gaza. However, they will have reservations over putting billions of dollars into Gaza’s reconstruction without an internationally agreed and comprehensive plan for stability, as well as assurances of some Palestinian autonomy.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza will be allowed to return from Sunday morning.

That makes reconstruction of the north particularly urgent, especially given the higher level of destruction there.

‘If they come, they will not find a place to live’

Dr Mohammad Salha, the director of North Gaza’s last remaining hospital, has not seen his wife and children since the war began.

He has been living in Al Awda Hospital, attempting to keep it running against all odds.

His family are staying in a tent in the south. Whenever it rains, he says, their tent fills with water.

“I want to bring them here, but I don’t know where to put them,” he says. “At least they have a tent. Here, there is nowhere to put a tent.”

Gaza’s government estimates that 14 of every 15 homes have been damaged, leaving the territory littered with an estimated 42 million tonnes of debris.

“If they come, they will not find a place to live,” says Maher Salem, 59, head of planning at Gaza City’s Hamas-led municipal government and a co-author of Gaza Phoenix.

Mr Salem says his team are trying to procure tents and caravans to serve as temporary shelters, and are preparing approximately 20 sites in and around Gaza City.

At least one new tent camp was seen in Gaza City on Thursday.

The reconstruction plan identifies four main zones for larger tent camps, to serve as displacement centres during the reconstruction.

These areas have been chosen because of their proximity to medical centres and relatively low levels of groundwater pollution.

More than 95% of the Gaza Strip has groundwater containing levels of nitrates considered unsafe by the WHO, according to maps published in the document.

Israel has yet to relax import restrictions, hampering reconstruction

The war has also wrought severe damage on Gaza’s water distribution network, with aid groups saying that 70% of water sent through the pipes is currently lost due to leakage.

“We have more than 100,000 metres of pipes that are destroyed, but we haven’t even got 10 metres of pipes for repairs,” says Mr Salem, who also manages water infrastructure in Gaza City.

Israel has so far refused to allow the entry of metal pipes into Gaza, arguing that they could be used to construct rockets.

Similar restrictions on other such “dual use” items have been in place since the war began, and in many cases long before.

Discussions about relaxing these rules post-ceasefire are ongoing, Mr Salem says.

He adds that officials are also trying to secure permission to import heavy machinery, generators and solar panels for the reconstruction effort.

“Everything is in relation to the availability of the materials. If you haven’t the materials, you can’t do the thing.”

Shaina Low, spokesperson for aid organisation Shelter Cluster, says the restrictions are affecting items necessary to build basic shelters, including timber and tent poles.

“There’s so much uncertainty, it makes it very difficult for the humanitarian sector to plan in advance,” she says.

‘Whoever is alive, they will come’

Of particular urgency are repairs to North Gaza’s hospitals. The region now has only one functioning hospital, Al Awda, after repeated raids and attacks by the Israeli military destroyed the Kamal Adwan and Beit Hanoun hospitals, and rendered the Indonesian and Sheikh Hamad hospitals out of service.

Al Awda has also suffered repeated attacks on its staff and buildings.

“A lot of equipment is destroyed,” says Dr Salha, the hospital’s director. “The whole hospital is without windows, without doors, without full ceilings.”

Many of the hospital’s surgeons have been killed or arrested, including Dr Adnan Al Bursh, whose unexplained death in Israeli custody was investigated by Sky News in November.

Despite now only having a single surgeon, Al Awda is preparing for a surge in patient numbers come Sunday, when displaced Palestinians are expected to begin their return to the north.

Dr Salha is also anticipating the arrival of “hundreds, maybe thousands” of wounded or starving people who have been in North Gaza but unable to safely reach the hospital.

“Whoever is alive, they will come,” he says.

A relatively small, private hospital, Al Awda has never had an intensive care unit, an oxygen unit or incubator beds. In the past, Al Awda would refer critical patients and newborns to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital.

“Now there is no Kamal Adwan Hospital,” says Dr Salha, “so we will have to do it.”

He has submitted a proposal for the construction of these advanced facilities, but this hinges on the relaxation of import restrictions.

Dr Salha thinks it will take three months before any other hospital in North Gaza is functioning. But Dr Marwan Sultan, the director of the Indonesian Hospital, thinks he can get his hospital up and running within a month.

That too, however, will depend on what he is allowed to import.

“All four generators have been destroyed, along with both oxygen units,” says Dr Sultan.

“These are not available in Gaza, so we have to bring it from outside, but this has not been allowed up till now.”

It will be months before schools can reopen

For those already living in the north of Gaza, the imminent arrival of the returnees poses its own problems.

Ahmed Abu Riziq lives with his wife and three young children in a rented flat in the north of Gaza City. He speaks to us from the building’s roof, which is littered with debris and shrapnel damage.

This week, his landlord is returning and he is being evicted.

He has given up hope of finding another flat. Instead, he is simply trying to find some empty land on which to pitch a tent amidst the rubble.

The destruction of homes in Gaza, and the immense quantities of debris strewn through its streets, has prompted many families to take shelter in schools.

“For more than one year the students have not gone to school, and they haven’t had any chance to go to school because all the schools are used as shelters,” says Mr Salem.

Satellite analysis by aid group Education Cluster suggests that 88% of schools in Gaza have been damaged, including every single school in North Gaza.

Mr Abu Riziq, a schoolteacher, thinks it will take between six to 12 months before schools are able to reopen.

That is echoed in the Gaza Phoenix reconstruction plan, which does not anticipate a resumption of schooling within the next six months.

For the time being, the best scenario for Gaza’s children is to enrol in one of the territory’s growing number of tent schools.

In May last year, Mr Abu Riziq set up his own tent school using the leftover parachute from an aid drop. He has since expanded to five schools, providing education and psychological support to around 2,000 children aged five to 14.

He is optimistic that, with proper support and counselling, Gaza’s children will be able to overcome their traumas.

“Most of our students, when we first tell them to draw, they draw tanks, destroyed houses, how they suffered,” he says.

“But now, after many sessions, they draw gardens, sunflowers, a plane they are in, trees with apples that they can eat. They start to draw their future.”

Additional reporting by Michelle Inez Simon, visual investigations producer, and Olive Enokido-Lineham, OSINT producer.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

Hamas has released the names of four female soldiers expected to be freed on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel.

Hostages Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, all aged 20, and 19-year-old Liri Albag, who were all serving with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), are set to return from the war-ravaged coastal territory to Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The four Israeli troops were taken captive from the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 when Hamas carried out its cross-border attack.

The hostages are expected to be freed as part of an exchange that will see 200 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails – 50 for each IDF soldier released by Hamas as per the ceasefire agreement.

It is understood that 120 of the Palestinian prisoners are serving life sentences.

All four Israeli captives are alive, Sky’s US partner network NBC News reported, citing a senior Hamas official.

The latest developments follow the release of three Israeli hostages, including dual British citizen Emily Damari, last Sunday and comes as the ceasefire approaches its second week.

Israel has yet to confirm the latest names. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “A list of kidnapped women has been received by the mediators. Israel’s response will be provided later.”

Israel had reportedly demanded that Arbel Yehoud, an Israeli civilian, be on the list of four to be released on Saturday. However, she has not been named by Hamas.

It is thought she might be held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hames, 33 hostages are to be freed over the course of six weeks in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees.

The Gaza-based Prisoners’ Media Office said in a statement: “After the Palestinian resistance factions announced the names of the occupation prisoners who are to be released tomorrow, which included the names of four female soldiers; we are waiting for the list of Palestinian prisoners who are to be released tomorrow, which will include 120 prisoners with life sentences, and 80 prisoners with high sentences, according to what was stipulated in the ceasefire agreement in the deal.”

If the process runs smoothly, the four Israeli hostages should be released late on Saturday afternoon. They will first be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then driven to one of three border crossings to be transferred to the IDF.

From there, and after initial medical checks, they will be flown to hospital.

The Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released from Ofer Prison in the West Bank late on Saturday or in the early hours of Sunday morning.

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Saturday is also expected to see the start of an IDF withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor that bisects Gaza.

Once complete, Gazans will be able to return home to the north of the strip, although they will be subject to checks for weapons before being allowed to pass.

It has been reported that an independent security company, possibly American, could be tasked with carrying out those checks.

Among the roughly 250 people abducted in Israel on 7 October 2023, some have died in captivity in Gaza, while others have been released or rescued.

Including the four hostages expected to be released on Saturday, 91 of those taken captive on 7 October 2023 are still yet to return home.

The ceasefire, brokered with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the US, has brought a pause to 15 months of brutal fighting in Gaza that has razed much of the enclave to the ground.

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.