section_path: Ceasefire and hostage/prisoner exchanges/Fifth exchange (8 February)
section_name: Fifth exchange (8 February)
paragraph_text: Fifth exchange (8 February)
  
  On 7 February, Hamas announced that it will release Israeli civilian hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy the next day, and they were all released the following day. Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, of which seven were transferred to Egypt prior to their deportation. The Israeli hostages appeared frail, thin and gaunt and were forced to deliver public speeches expressing gratitude to Hamas, their captors. Seven of the Palestinians were hospitalized immediately after release; some of them showed signs of physical torture on their bodies (including rib fractures from being beaten). Eighteen of the released Palestinians had been convicted by Israeli courts of terrorism. Amnesty International said that at least of those released by Israel had been convicted in "a grossly unfair trial" based upon undisclosed evidence. Israel said the released were responsible for the 2004 Beersheba bus bombings which killed 16 Israelis and other attacks during the Second Intifada.
  
  The dire medical conditions of both the Israelis and Palestinians released sparked strong reactions. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor criticized Israeli treatment of Palestinians in captivity. The US President Donald Trump Steffen Seibert, the German ambassador to Israel, and Simon Walters, the British ambassador to Israel all criticized Hamas' treatment of Israelis in captivity. Pro-Israeli social media accounts drew comparisons between Israelis released by Hamas and Holocaust survivors who suffered extreme starvation known as Muselmann. Pro-Palestinian social media accounts argued that Palestinians released by Israel showed physical signs of starvation and torture, while Israelis released by Hamas appeared relatively healthier.
  
  The day after the exchange, which was the half-way point of the 42 day duration of Phase 1 of the agreement, Israel withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor, leaving Israel in control over only "a small sliver of land in southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border, and a buffer zone along the Israeli border." The Israeli troops were replaced by private US and Egyptian security personnel, armed and dressed in military fatigues, who manned checkpoints along the corridor.