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.
Image: Karina Ariev. Pic: Bring Them Home Now
Image: Daniella Gilboa. Pic: Bring Them Home Now
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.
Image: Liri Albag. Pic: Bring Them Home Now
Image: Naama Levy. Pic: Bring Them Home Now
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.
The first three hostages to be released last Sunday, Romi Gonen, Doren Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, are all still recovering in a hospital just outside Tel Aviv.
Michal Mayo, Doron’s cousin, told Sky News her condition is still fragile, but she is doing well.
“Those three young women were held mostly underground tunnels under terrible circumstances, and you know, you can only imagine after 471 days there that both mentally and physically they would then need a lot of time to recover and heal,” said Michal.
“She’s adjusting to freedom.”
Romi Gonen’s best friend, Gaya Khalifa, was shot and killed next to her on October 7 at the Nova music festival.
Gaya’s mother Sigal has visited Romi in hospital and said it brought back memories of her daughter.
“I knew from the beginning that Gaya was not going to come back but when I saw Romi it reminded me what happened on October 7 and it made me the same feeling: Why? Why has it happened to us?
“But in the same moment you feel that Romi is the last memory from Gaya and she knows everything and when I hug her, I feel like I hug Gaya.”
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.
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.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
Image: The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
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Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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5:07
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‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”