Hamas names three hostages to be released in the next few hours

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas published the names of the three hostages it will release in Gaza on Saturday, February 8, in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners to be handed over to them by the Israeli authorities. The exchange will take place as part of the fifth wave of hostages released by Hamas during the first phase of the ceasefire agreed with the government of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The hostages to be released by Hamas are Ohad Ben Ami, 56; Eli Sharabi, 52; and Or Levy, 34. Of those to be released by the Israeli government, 54 prisoners were known to be serving long prison sentences, while 111 were detained throughout the war and 18 were serving life sentences.

Prior to the release of the names, Hamas accused Israeli authorities of breaking the ceasefire after delaying the entry of dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid, which is part of the agreement reached in January and officially came into force on Jan. 19.

For its part, COGAT, Israel's military agency in charge of monitoring the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, denied the terrorist group's allegations. Likewise, COGAT assured that it would not tolerate any violation of the agreements by Hamas and stated that it would take appropriate action if necessary.

A hard return to freedom

Although the nightmare of being held hostage by Hamas will finally come to an end, the truth is that the three hostages who will be released will have to rebuild their lives after having suffered the unspeakable. This is the case of Levy, who was kidnapped by members of the terrorist group on October 7, 2023 in the middle of a music festival where dozens of civilians were killed. Levy was kidnapped along with American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was brutally murdered in August 2024.

Sharabi will be released after members of the terrorist group murdered his two daughters and wife on Oct. 7, 2023. Several media outlets have reported that his brother Yossi was also kidnapped by Hamas on the same day and is believed to have been killed.

Lastly is Ohad Ben Ami, who holds dual German-Israeli citizenship and was kidnapped on October 7, 2023 along with his wife Raz at Kibbutz Be'eri. Although in his last WhatsApp message he wrote a Jewish prayer that is usually said before death, his wife was released a month after the abduction.