Dozens of Palestinian prisoners and three Israeli hostages released

The three hostages are now back in Israel, whilst dozens of Palestinians who had been held in Israeli prisons have now returned to the West Bank.

Transcript

00:00Three Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Saturday have returned home to Israel.

00:07It was the fifth hostage release in the ceasefire deal that came into force on January 19th.

00:13Eli Shirabi, Ohad Ben-Ami and Or Levi were captured during the 7 October 2023 incursion

00:19into southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

00:23Shirabi and Ben-Ami were taken from Kibbutz Berri, one of the hardest hit communities

00:28of the attack.

00:30Including Saturday, Hamas has so far released 21 out of a total of 33 hostages set to be

00:36freed in the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal.

00:40In exchange for Saturday's release, Israel is releasing 183 Palestinians being held in

00:45Israeli prisons.

00:47Shortly after the hostage release in Gaza, a bus carrying a few dozen Palestinian prisoners

00:53headed to a meeting point in the West Bank, greeted by their families, friends and well-wisher