GAZA (Dispatches) – Hamas 
released three Israeli captives from Gaza on Saturday, while the Zionist regime began freeing 183 Palestinian prisoners. 
The freed Israelis - Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 - were the latest to be released under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement. 
They were handed over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after being photographed on a stage in front of large crowds in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. 
Scores of masked Palestinian fighters monitored the area and ushered the three men on and off the stage before transferring them to Red Cross vehicles. 
Meanwhile, video footage showed a bus carrying Palestinian detainees from Israel’s Ofer Prison arriving in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday afternoon. 
So far, 21 Israeli and Thai captives and 383 Palestinian detainees have been freed since the ceasefire began on 19 January. 
Another 183 Palestinians were set to be released by the end on Saturday, according to Hamas.
Among them are 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving long-term sentences and 111 who were detained after October 7, 2023. They are all men aged between 20 and 61. 
Senior Hamas figures are among those released, including Jamal al-Tawil, 61, a former mayor of the village of al-Bireh, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
He has been in and out of Israeli detention over the past two decades and was mostly recently detained and held in the so-called administrative detention in 2021. 
Seven of the Palestinians released on Saturday will be transferred to Egypt ahead of further deportation.
Zionist troops raided the homes of several Palestinian prisoners being released, the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office said on Saturday. The raids took place across the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds. 
Seven of the released Palestinians were taken to hospital on Saturday. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said some of them were in a serious condition. 
Tawil, the former mayor of al-Bireh, was among those taken to hospital, according to Al Jazeera. 
After an initial check at an army facility near the Gaza fence, the three Israeli captives were transported to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied territories. 
Sharabi and Ben Ami were taken from the Be’eri kibbutz during the Hamas-led surprise operation on southern parts of the Israeli-occupied territories on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,100 people and resulted in around 250 being taken captive in Gaza. 
The first stage of the truce deal involves the exchange of 33 Israeli captives for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, the return of internally displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and the retreat of Israeli troops to a perimeter area.
The second stage, which was expected to begin 42 days after the beginning of the truce, would see all Israeli captives released in return for a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. 
That phase has yet to be discussed thoroughly, though a Hamas official said on Tuesday that contact and negotiations for the second phase had begun – without providing further details. 
The third stage of the ceasefire, if agreed, would involve a plan on the governance of post-war Gaza and a three- to five-year reconstruction project overseen by international actors.