Gaza: Al-Qassam hands over 4 captive Israeli female soldiers to the Red Cross

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, handed over four captured Israeli female soldiers to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Palestine Square in Gaza City on Saturday, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19.

Anadolu Agency correspondent reported that the Qassam Brigades fighters handed over the four female soldiers from a platform erected in Palestine Square, after a signing between the Brigades and the International Committee of the Red Cross team.

During the handover, the four Israeli female soldiers walked onto the stage wearing military uniforms.

After receiving the four female prisoners, a convoy of Red Cross vehicles left Palestine Square, heading to hand them over to the Israeli side.

The handover process included a heavy presence of Qassam fighters and the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, who were deployed in the area.

While thousands of Palestinians gathered in Palestine Square to attend the handover process in a festive atmosphere.

The Anatolia correspondent also explained that the Qassam Brigades organized military parades in different areas of Gaza before the start of the handover process.

One such parade was held in the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City, where vehicles and motorcycles carried dozens of Qassam fighters in a scene that occurred for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect.

The Gaza Strip began preparing for the handover of the four female prisoners since Friday evening, when Hamas prepared Palestine Square and hung Palestinian flags and a banner on it that read, “Palestinian freedom fighters… are victorious,” “Palestine is the victory of the oppressed over Zionism,” “The Al-Aqsa Flood is a revolution against Zionist injustice and criminality,” and “Gaza… the graveyard of the criminal Zionists.”

In the first phase of the agreement, which consists of three stages, each lasting 42 days, the terms stipulate the gradual release of 33 Israelis held in Gaza, whether alive or dead, in exchange for a number of Palestinian detainees estimated between 1,700 and 2,000.

Indeed, the first exchange, which took place on the first day of the agreement, saw the release of 3 Israeli female civilian prisoners in exchange for 90 Palestinian child prisoners and female prisoners, all from the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.

With American support, between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, Israel committed genocide in Gaza, leaving more than 158,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing, and one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Anatolia