What to know about the next Gaza hostage release
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Hamas is expected on Friday to release the names of the next four Israeli hostages to be freed under the Gaza cease-fire deal, as mediators hope to build momentum that could lead to a lasting end to the war. The multiphase deal’s protocols call for female hostages—civilians and soldiers—to be released first, followed by elderly and wounded men, and then the bodies of the dead.
Only a few hostages meet the criteria for the first releases. They include a 29-year-old civilian, Arbel Yehoud, and five female soldiers who were taken from a military base near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas complicated expectations about Saturday’s exchange earlier this week when it said it would free four female soldiers this weekend. That raised concerns in Israel about Yehoud and highlighted a multitude of possible disagreements that could hold up a precariously balanced deal. On Thursday, a Hamas official said four female hostages would be released this weekend, and that whether they were civilians or soldiers was subject to “field conditions as deemed appropriate" by the group.
Israel expects Yehoud to be among them, a person familiar with the deal said. The two sides negotiated the first phase under the expectation that Hamas would first release female civilians and then female soldiers. Which hostages are released and when is hugely sensitive in Israel, where some families of captives are unsure whether their loved ones are alive or dead.
Destruction in the northern Gaza Strip. Yehoud was taken from a kibbutz on the edge of Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
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