Displaced Palestinians in southern and central Gaza were left wondering on Saturday when Israel would permit them to return to their homes in the northern part of the territory, as Israel and Hamas sparred over the implementation of the cease-fire deal.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said Israel would prevent movement to the north of Gaza until plans were set for the release of Arbel Yehud, one of the last civilian women in captivity in Gaza.

Israeli officials said the agreement had required Ms. Yehud to be released on Saturday. They said they believed that she wasn’t being held by Hamas, suggesting the holdup wasn’t solely Hamas’s responsibility.

Hamas accused Israel of hesitating to implement the cease-fire agreement. The dispute was one of the most significant between the parties since the cease-fire took effect a week ago.

The holdup left many Palestinians in a state of anxious waiting, as they were already packing their belongings, including kitchen supplies, clothing and mattress pads.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been looking forward to returning to their homes in northern Gaza — many of which were destroyed in Israel’s bombing campaign — after long months enduring miserable conditions in makeshift shelters, schools and friends’ and relatives’ homes.

As of Saturday evening, neither Hamas nor the Israeli prime minister’s office had publicly announced plans for the release of Ms. Yehud.

It was unclear what exactly would need to take place for Israel to consider Ms. Yehud’s release arranged, but Hamas has confirmed which hostages will be freed to Israel in the past by sending lists to Israel through mediators.

The cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas says the Israeli military should withdraw eastward on the seventh day of the agreement and that displaced Palestinians could then begin to return to their homes. Even though Saturday was the seventh day of the agreement, the Hamas-run government media office said earlier this week that people would be allowed to return on Sunday.

Avichai Adraee, the Arabic spokesman of the Israeli military, posted on social media on Saturday that it was still forbidden to approach the corridor linking central Gaza to the north, without clarifying when that would change.

Palestinians in Gaza expressed nervousness as they waited for a resolution.

“Everyone is worried and cautious,” said Ibrahim Abdulwahed, 40, a displaced man in the central city of Deir al-Balah. He said he was hopeful Israel and Hamas would resolve the issue.

Others said their excitement about returning home was mixed with fears about the devastation they would encounter after 15 months of Israeli bombardment.

“My husband and I have been waiting for this day with so much anticipation, but I can’t help feeling frightened about the great destruction I’ll see on the way back,” said Nour Qasim, 22, a displaced person in Nuseirat, in central Gaza.

Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday in exchange for four soldiers who were being held hostage by Hamas. Dozens of the prisoners had been serving life sentences in Israeli jails for attacks against Israelis.

The Israeli prison service said in a statement that the prisoners had been released from Ofer Prison near the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and from another facility near Beersheba in southern Israel.

Israelis view them as terrorists, while many Palestinians say that they conducted legitimate resistance to Israeli rule or view them as victims of Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered at a Ramallah municipal building to welcome the prisoners home, pushing to get hold of their loved ones as they stepped out of the Red Cross buses that were transporting them.

Some freed prisoners, still wearing gray uniforms apparently issued by the Israeli prison authority, were held on the shoulders of the chanting crowd.

“We leave our jail but the price is high for our freedom,” Mohammad Arda, one of the freed prisoners, told reporters, as family and friends huddled around him. “I’m thinking about the families of the inmates we lost during the past year and a half.”

On Sunday, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and minors, in exchange for three female hostages. This time, the Israeli authorities are freeing many people who were convicted of much heavier offenses, including the murder of Israeli civilians in militant attacks.

According to the Israeli government, Mr. Arda — an activist in Palestinian Islamic Jihad — had been sentenced to life for attempted murder and planting an explosive device, among other offenses. He was one of six prisoners who briefly escaped from an Israeli prison in 2021, stunning Israelis and Palestinians, before he was caught.

More than 1,500 Palestinians jailed by Israel are due to be released as part of the first stage of the cease-fire and hostage-release agreement. Hamas has pledged to release 33 hostages; 97 were held in Gaza when the deal went into effect last Sunday, according to the Israeli authorities.

About 120 of the Palestinian prisoners released on Saturday were serving life sentences for involvement in attacks against Israelis, according to lists provided by the Hamas-linked prisoners’ office. Under the terms of the agreement, about 70 will be expelled from Israeli-held territory to Hamas-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip or abroad to countries like Egypt.

Those being released on Saturday included Mohammad Odeh, Wael Qassim and Wissam Abbasi, who were arrested in 2002 for a string of deadly bombings targeting Israelis in crowded civilian areas. All three were serving life sentences for their involvement in the attacks.

One of the group’s most infamous attacks — which took place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem — killed nine people, including five Americans.

The three men are all slated to be exiled abroad and will never be allowed to return to their homes in Jerusalem, according to the terms of the agreement.

With a ceasefire in force in Gaza, the Israeli army and settlers have intensified their attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. Amid the exchange of captives, images showing legions of Hamas reinforcements puncture the narratives in Israeli media.

Contributors:
Dalal Iriqat – Associate professor, Arab American University Palestine
Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project
Tahani Mustafa – Senior Palestine analyst, Crisis Group
Sarah Leah Whitson – Executive director, DAWN

On our radar

A video surfaced this week showing a Hamas commander alive in northern Gaza, despite Israeli media having widely reported his “killing” 8 months ago. Tariq Nafi reports.

The Pervasiveness of Hindutva Pop

In India, Hindu nationalism, or “Hindutva”, has spread onto a variety of media platforms. Meenakshi Ravi explores its musical subgenre, Hindutva pop, and speaks to one of its biggest names.

Featuring:
Kanhiya Mittal – Musician
Kunal Purohit – Author, The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars
Samriddhi Sakunia – Journalist and current affairs Instagrammer

The BBC’s Jon Donnison watched on in Ramallah as Palestinian prisoners released by Israel were greeted by cheering crowds in the West Bank.

Israel said it freed 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, but around 70 are set to be deported.

Earlier four Israeli hostages returned to Israel after they were handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas in Gaza City.

It is the second part of an Israeli hostage release and Palestinian prisoner swap since a ceasefire was agreed earlier this month.

For the second time in a week, Hamas used the handing over of hostages to the Red Cross to project an image that it is still a powerful force in charge of the Gaza Strip, despite 15 months of a war that has killed thousands of its fighters and civilians, and reduced cities to rubble.

The handover of four hostages on Saturday was an even more performative stunt than the one last Sunday, when three other female hostages were released.

On Saturday, Hamas set up a stage in Palestine Square in the center of Gaza City — an area devastated by Israel’s bombing campaign and ground incursion. The stage held a banner bearing a message in Hebrew: “Zionism will not win.” Hundreds of masked, uniformed fighters and civilians gathered nearby.

On the stage, Hamas held a signing ceremony between one of its members and a representative of the Red Cross, which later received the four hostages.

The hostages, all soldiers who were lookouts at a base on the Gaza border and abducted from there on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack on Israel, arrived to the square in a convoy of midsize sport utility vehicles. They were led onto the stage, clothed in military-style fatigues, which seemed intended to make a point that these hostages were soldiers, not civilians.

Militants holding expensive cameras followed the hostages, likely to make a video that will be published on social media.

Onstage, the hostages smiled and waved at the cheering and whistling onlookers as gun-toting Hamas militants stood beside them.

The Red Cross said it would not comment on ongoing operations.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman of the Israeli military, said Hamas proved its “cruelty” during Saturday’s handover, which he described as a “cynical ceremony.”

Israeli officials have said Hamas has forced hostages to smile and wave as part of a propaganda effort aimed at conveying the message that the group was treating its captives well. Former hostages, however, have reported being abused, including one who spoke publicly about being sexually assaulted and tortured.

The hostage release is part of a 42-day cease-fire deal that went into effect on Sunday, pausing the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Hamas agreed to incrementally release 33 of the nearly 100 remaining hostages in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal.

The hostages had been recent recruits, working as “spotters” for Israel’s army, reporting on suspicious activity across the border. During the Hamas-led attack, militants stormed the Nahal Oz military base in Israel, killing more than 50 soldiers and abducting the women, who were teenagers at the time, and three other female soldiers.

In May, the Israel military released a three-minute edited collection of videos, verified by The New York Times, showing Palestinian fighters, some wearing Hamas headbands, binding the hands of five women, including the four who were released on Saturday. The footage was recorded by body cameras worn by the Hamas militants who abducted them, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of many of the captives.

Here is what else we know about the four released hostages.

Liri Albag

Ms. Albag, who has dreamed of becoming an architect and interior designer, joined the Israeli military soon after graduating from high school, according to a statement by the Hostage Families Forum.

Her family expressed relief and joy at seeing her being released. “Far from what I expected, she looks vibrant,” Ruhama Albag, her aunt, said on live television. “She is cheerful, waving her hand, her spirit unbroken.”

In January, Hamas’s military wing released an edited video of Ms. Albag, now 19, speaking for three and a half minutes, in which she said she had been held for more than 450 days.

In a statement at the time, Ms. Albag’s family said that “her severe psychological distress” was evident in the video and asked Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other leaders to “make decisions as if your own children were there.”

“She is just dozens of kilometers away from us, yet for 456 days we have been unable to bring her home,” the family said.

Karina Ariev

Ms. Ariev, 20, is the daughter of immigrants from Ukraine, and her family described her as “the connecting force” among friends and family, the families forum said.

She called her parents during the attack, describing militants firing guns and rockets, and told them she loved them, according to the Israeli news media. Her family later that day found a Hamas video posted on social media that showed Ms. Ariev and two other women in a jeep, her face bleeding, they said.

In August, Ms. Ariev’s older sister, Sasha Ariev, said at an event in Jerusalem spoke of moving home after the Oct. 7 attack to help her struggling parents who were feeling increasingly helpless.

Ms. Ariev’s sister said the hostage crisis was consuming her. “How can I sleep when we haven’t succeeded in bringing Karina and all the other hostages home?” she said. “How can I sleep when I’m in my bed and she’s a hostage?”

Daniella Gilboa

Daniella Gilboa, 20, is from Petah Tikva, in central Israel. At the time of her abduction, Ms. Gilboa had been studying piano and hoped to perform professionally one day, the forum said.

In July, Ms. Gilboa’s family released a video made by Hamas that they had received months earlier, which showed her and Ms. Ariev in captivity.

In an interview with Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, the father of Ms. Gilboa’s boyfriend said the family was feeling mixed emotions over the video. “In her family, there is a feeling of relief alongside a feeling of disappointment,” he was quoted as saying.

Naama Levy

Naama Levy, who is also now 20, is a triathlete who grew up in Raanana, a leafy town north of Tel Aviv, the forum said.

She texted her mother from a safe room on the day of the attack, according to a website focused on campaigning for her release. “I’ve never heard anything like this,” she wrote.

A Hamas video of her being taken to Gaza circulated on social media shortly after the attack.

In an interview for a documentary about sexual violence during the attack, Ayelet Levy Sachar, Naama’s mother, spoke of her daughter’s kidnapping. She was seen in a Hamas video in pajama bottoms, drenched in blood.

“They’re grabbing her by the hair, and she’s all, like, messed up,” she said, adding: “We would like to think that this couldn’t be possible, that nobody would harm a young girl. But then you just see it there.”

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Israel is expected to release dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli jails as part of the ceasefire deal.

Hamas has released four female Israeli soldiers held in Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement, handing them over to Red Cross officials in Palestine Square in Gaza City.

In exchange for the second release of the captives on Saturday, Israel is expected to release 200 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Ahead of the release, scores of masked Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters gathered at the square where a large crowd of Palestinians also congregated. In addition to hundreds of Hamas members, other Palestinian factions, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are also present at the site.

Representatives of the Red Cross and a Hamas fighter were seen signing documents ahead of the release.

Hamas identified the four female Israeli soldiers as Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag. The four captives, who were in Israeli military uniforms, waved to the crowd as they were released.

Ibrahim Al Khaliji, reporting for Al Jazeera from Palestine Square, described the release as a “historic moment”.

Later on Saturday, the Israeli army confirmed it received the released soldiers from the Red Cross, adding that they will undergo a medical assessment.

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

As part of the deal, Israeli forces are also expected to withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

Israel is also expected to open the Rafah border crossing in the south for more humanitarian aid and other commercial supplies to enter.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, said many Palestinians consider Saturday’s exchange of captives and prisoners as more important as it will pave the way for their return to northern Gaza.

More to follow …

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for US defence secretary, was confirmed by the Senate late on Friday night, after facing misconduct allegations that nearly derailed his confirmation.

Vice-President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote in Hegseth’s favour, after three Republican senators – including former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell – voted against him.

During Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, he faced multiple questions about an allegation of sexual assault, which he has denied, as well as infidelity and drinking.

The former combat veteran and one-time Fox News television host will oversee a department of some three million employees and a $849bn (£695bn) budget.

Four Republicans would have needed to join the 47 Democratic and independent senators who voted against Hegseth for his nomination to be defeated.

McConnell’s surprise vote left the Senate in a 50-50 deadlock before Vance arrived to cast the tie-breaker.

Explaining his vote, McConnell issued a bruising statement saying Hegseth was unprepared to lead a vast department of three million people while managing a huge budget and co-ordinating with global allies.

The role of defence secretary is “a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people”, McConnell said. “Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test.”

In confirming Hegseth, Vance becomes only the second vice-president in US history to break a tie to confirm a cabinet nominee. Trump’s previous vice-president, Mike Pence, became the first when he cast the deciding vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary in 2017.

“Warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That’s it. That is my job,” Hegseth said during the confirmation hearing earlier this month.

Democratic senators questioned Hegseth, a military veteran, about his qualifications to lead one of the nation’s largest agencies.

But many Republicans, including Trump, have maintained their support for Hegseth.

Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, who is chair of the Senate’s armed services committee, defended Hegseth during the hearing and voted in favour of his confirmation.

He said: “Pete Hegseth is ready to put forward the program of President Donald Trump, and he has satisfied me that he will be a change agent in the Department of Defense and that he’s the person we need.

“He’s the president’s choice, and we owe it to this commander in chief to put him in this position, unless he’s not qualified for the office.”

Hegseth, 44, a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, later worked at Fox. He has little of the traditional experience expected for a national security cabinet position – a role typically filled by senior civil servants, experienced politicians, generals and high-level executives.

Hegseth also was asked during the hearing, particularly by female senators, about his previous comments that women should not serve in combat roles. He responded that his concern was not women serving in combat, but in maintaining a certain standard in the US military.

His confirmation process was overshadowed by allegations of misconduct. He was accused of sexually assaulting an unnamed women in 2017 in a Monterey, California, hotel room. He has denied the accusation repeatedly.

The newly confirmed defence secretary also faced allegations of excessive drinking, including at work events, and infidelity in his previous two marriages.

“I am not a perfect person, but redemption is real,” he said during the hearing.

Earlier this week, he was accused of alcohol and spousal abuse in a sworn affidavit given to a congressional committee by his former sister-in-law. Hegseth’s lawyer denied the allegations.

For Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who voted against confirmation on Friday, past allegations helped swayed their vote.

In a statement released days before the vote, she said his past behaviour, “demonstrates a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces”.

Meanwhile, Maine Senator Susan Collins, another Republican who voted against Hegseth, said she was “concerned that he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job”.