08.02 letzte Geisel werden getauscht

cnn

Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners freed as Israel condemns frail appearance of captives

By Sophie Tanno and Mick Krever, CNN

6 minute read

Updated 9:45 AM EST, Sat February 8, 2025

Gershon Baskin, a veteran Israeli negotiator turned peace activist, said Saturday the condition of the released hostages would remind many Israelis of Nazi concentration camp survivors and that it should “compel us all to accelerate the release of all hostages.”

The Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel, among the hardest hit in the October 7 attacks, said it was “happy and excited” for the hostages’ return Saturday, adding: “These images and the conditions in which they returned will be etched in the memory of the world and will be eternal testimony to the failure, to all who chose to oppose the deal, to all who continue to explain why we should wait, postpone or hesitate.”



Following the release of the three hostages on Saturday, Hamas and its allies still hold a total of 73 people taken from Israel on October 7, 2023, of 251 initially taken. Three additional hostages, held captive since 2014, are still in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel freed 183 Palestinians Saturday. Some of the released prisoners were brought from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank to Ramallah, where video of their release showed some detainees weak and thin, with one man appearing so frail that he needed to be carried. Recently released Palestinian prisoners have returned from Israeli detention with signs of physical abuse and starvation, and have alleged abuse and torture.

The Israeli prison system has come under fire for intentionally reducing food servings to Palestinian prisoners in what’s been described as the minimum required for survival, on the orders of then-National Security Minister Ben Gvir last year.

In comments made in April 2024, Gvir said that Palestinian prisoners “should be killed with a shot to the head,” and called for a bill to allow for executions to be passed in the Israeli Knesset. “Until then, we will give them minimal food to survive. I do not care about this,” he said. In October, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that conditions in the notorious Sde Teiman detention center must comply with Israeli law. A spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service (IPS) told CNN Saturday that the IPS “operates according to the provisions of the law” and that “all basic rights required are fully applied by professionally trained prison guards.”

Eighteen of the Palestinian prisoners released Saturday were serving life sentences, while 54 had lesser sentences and 111 were detained in Gaza after October 7, Hamas said in a statement. The charges against the 111 were not clear.