Four Israeli hostages released by Hamas during staged handover

Saturday’s event in Palestine Square, Gaza City, was highly choreographed by Hamas, unlike last weekend’s chaotic handover.

The four hostages emerged from cars and were shepherded by masked gunmen to a stage erected in the square, where moments earlier a Red Cross official had sat at a desk to sign documents with a Hamas fighter.

The hostages and the masked gunmen wore lanyards around their necks containing laminated ID badges, each with their own sort of accreditation for the event.

The stage was set up with a desk and flags, symbols of bureaucracy – but alongside the platform was a machine gun.

The four Israeli women were seen waving, smiling and holding hands as crowds of Hamas gunmen and Palestinian civilians looked on.

Hamas – which gave each hostage a bag of items to take with them back to Israel – will hope these carefully crafted images project order as well as strength.

The intended recipients of the message was likely aimed at both Palestinians hoping to run Gaza one day, and at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had vowed to destroy the group in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks.

For Israelis, there was huge relief that another four hostages – who were reunited with their families shortly after being freed – are safe.

Last week, many felt fury that the first three women released were unceremoniously bundled away during the handover.

After Saturday’s wildly contrasting scenes, another kind of anger was likely: at the public parading of the women in their final moments before being given their freedom.