JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA – The Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement handed four Israeli female soldier hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday, live TV showed.

The four were led onto a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men. They waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC vehicles that will transport them to Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said it had received the four in Gaza. They are being released in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.

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The four soldiers – Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and abducted by Hamas fighters who overran their base during the attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

After being reunited with their family at an Israeli military base near the Gaza border, the released hostages will be taken to a hospital in central Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry said.

Hamas said 200 prisoners were set to be freed on Saturday as part of the exchange. They are expected to include members of Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

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Saturday's planned exchange will be the second since a ceasefire began on Sunday and Hamas handed over three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, has halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November 2023.