Hamas has released three more Israeli hostages who had been held in Gaza. All three are male civilians abducted during the group's October 7, 2023, terror attacks. In return, Israel freed 183 Palestinians from its prisons. The exchange is part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal that took effect in January.
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00:00Tanya Cremer is in Jerusalem for us. Tell us more about the hostages condition
00:06first of all. Well I can tell you you know when the first images appeared of
00:12them being let out of the cars and then paraded there on stage by Hamas you know
00:18people you could feel the relief obviously of people watching this but at
00:23the same time you know there's a lot of shock and anger over their very visible
00:28you know frail condition some of them you know they looked all very gaunt and
00:35frail when they appeared there so we heard from Israeli health officials
00:40some time ago they're now in Iqilof Hospital in Tel Aviv and they said
00:45they're suffering from significant malnutrition but they also have to
00:52deal now with the reality now that some of their they are now being told that
00:58some of their loved ones are no longer alive. We also heard from the Prime
01:04Minister's office shortly after the handover took place they were expressing
01:10great concern about their condition and that this will not go unaddressed that
01:14they were conveying this message to the mediators and there's certainly also a
01:19lot of pressure now after seeing those three hostages being released and their
01:25conditions as they were from the relatives and we heard also from the
01:29hostages families forum putting out a statement then now it's the time there
01:34no more postponement no revenge we are expecting leadership now putting much
01:39more pressure now on the leadership on on the government here to bring all the
01:44remaining hostages home. Tania what do we know about the condition of the
01:48Palestinian prisoners released? Well we also saw the buses then shortly after
01:55this handover of the Israeli hostages then some of the buses with Palestinians
02:02held in Israeli prisons there made their way some of them to the occupied West
02:06Bank some are also to Gaza 183 prisoners and detainees were released in this
02:13exchange we understand some of them were serving long sentences or life
02:20sentences but we also heard from rights groups there that seven of those now
02:26former detainees had to be brought to hospitals they were accusing Israeli
02:31prison service of mistreatment we also heard from the Israeli army they put out
02:37a statement that they will not allow celebrations in the occupied West Bank
02:41and that they will act against it now part of this group of people that were
02:46released today there also go to Gaza some of them have been detained after
02:52October 7 under suspicion that they were involved in the October 7 attacks but
02:57these people were not so they were released today they were held under
03:01administrative detention detention without trial and they're also going
03:05home now as part of this larger deal. According to media reports Benjamin Netanyahu
03:11has dispatched a delegation to Qatar for the next phase of the ceasefire talks is
03:15that a positive signal for the negotiations?
03:20Well it certainly tells us that I know something is moving forward usually we
03:27would have seen on day 16 already now we are in the middle of this first phase
03:32where 33 hostages will be released in exchange for Palestinian detainees but
03:39on day 16 already both sides should have been coming back to the negotiation table
03:45of course indirectly with the mediators to discuss the second phase which will
03:50then see the release of all the remaining hostages further withdrawal of
03:55the Israeli military and also talks about a more permanent ceasefire but we
04:01understand from the Israeli side at least this had been postponed until
04:04after the return of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who went to
04:08Washington this week now it's of course there has been a lot of opposition
04:12within his own cabinet we still have one far-right party there they have said
04:18they want to see the war resume they don't want to see the second phase being
04:22implemented but of course as I also said earlier there's much more pressure now
04:26from the Israeli public to go through to the second phase but the situation has
04:32become slightly more complicated now after the remarks and statements by
04:37President US President Donald Trump about quote taking over Gaza and the
04:43resettlement of 2.3 million people residents there in Gaza which is
04:49according to international law forced transfer and illegal so this has become
04:54more complicated now but we also have to say you know so far there have been ups
05:01and down in this process but so far both sides have been keeping you know the
05:06stages and so it has been moving forward but the next day certainly will be
05:11crucial to see where this is going. And we will be watching great though to get
05:16some of the details of that progress from you the very latest Tania Kramer in
05:21Jerusalem