Israel Says Won’t Allow Palestinians To Return To Northern Gaza Until Hamas Frees Civilian Hostage Arbel Yehoud

Yehoud was supposed to return on Saturday, but was not released. Israel said Hamas failed to meet its obligations to first release Israeli female civilian hostages as part of the agreement.

Israel on Saturday said that it will not allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza until civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud is released, a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted.

Yehoud was supposed to return on Saturday since she is civilian, but was not released. However, a report by Al Jazeera citing a Hamas source has said that the mediators have been informed that Yehoud is alive and will be released next Saturday. 

Earlier today, four female Israeli soldiers held in Gaza were released by Hamas in return for some 200 Palestinian prisoners, as decided in the ceasefire agreement to end the 15-month-old war in Gaza.

They were led onto a podium in Gaza city amid a large crowd of Palestinians and armed Hamas men as the four women waved and smiled before being led off. The soldiers Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, and Liri Albag were stationed at an observation post on Gaza's edge, and were abducted on October 7 after Hamas fighters oevrran their base during the attack on Israel, Reuters reported.

Back in Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis had gathered to watch the women come back home and cheered and cried as they saw Israeli forces receiving them. A giant screen was installed at the Hostages Square for the people to see the return of the hostages.

According to the Israeli Health Ministry, they will soon be reunited with their family and taken to a hospital in central Israel for medical check ups.

Amidst the joy, there was a cloud of disappointment as well after the female civilian hostage, who was also expected to be freed Saturday, was not. While Hamas called it a technical issue, an Israeli military spokesman said it was a breach of truce. 

Soon after Netanyahu said that Palestinians in Gaza will not be allowed to cross back to the northern part of the territory until the issue is resolved.

"Today, as part of these ongoing efforts, we welcomed home four more Israeli hostages after 477 days in Hamas captivity: Liri Albag, aged 19, Naama Levy, aged 20, Karina Ariev, aged 20, Daniella Gilboa, aged 20, four IDF soldiers who were all abducted by Hamas from Nahal Oz on October 7th, 2023," IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

"Hamas failed to meet its obligations to first release Israeli female civilian hostages as part of the agreement. We are determined to the return of Arbel Yehoud, an Israeli citizen kidnapped from Nir Oz, and also Shiri Bibas and her two children, Kfir and Ariel, whose welfare we are extremely concerned about," he added, as he went to also thank Egypt, the US, and Qatar for their efforts in mediation. 

After Israel returned 200 people in exchange of the four Israeli women, Hamas welcomed them calling them their "new batch of heroic prisoners", Al Jazeera reported. These 200 prisoners included convicted militants serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks. 70 of them are set to be deported.

In the previous exchange on January 19, Hamas had handed over three Israeli female civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.

In the first phase of the six-phase deal, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages, including women, children, older men, sick and the injured, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners lodged in Israeli jails. Israel will be pulling back its troops from some of the positions in the Gaza Strip.