Hamas yesterday released six hostages from Gaza, handing over in two public ceremonies and one private transfer the final living captives who the warring sides agreed would be freed when a ceasefire began last month.
Israel was due to release 620 Palestinian detainees in return, but had delayed the exchange citing further security reviews.
A decision will be made regarding the continuation of the process after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a security consultation yesterday evening, an Israeli official told CNN. Hamas’ media office had accused Israel of violating the truce with the delay, casting some uncertainty over the precarious ceasefire deal.
The release of the six hostages earlier on Saturday came just hours after Hamas returned the remains of Shiri Bibas – the Israeli mother whose young family became a symbol for the plight of hostages being held in Gaza. Hamas delivered a body on Thursday that they said at first was Bibas. But forensic testing by Israeli authorities confirmed that it was not hers, triggering a wave of outrage and condemnation in Israel.
A poster showed Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons on October 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, on February 21.
The first two hostages to be released on Saturday, Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, were turned over to Red Cross officials in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Shoham was kidnapped from kibbutz Be’eri, along with his two children, wife, and mother-in-law, all of whom were released in November 2023. Mengistu, an Israeli from Ashkelon, crossed into Gaza in 2014.
Later on, thousands, including Hamas fighters, gathered at a separate location in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where three of the hostages – Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 – were handed over in another heavily choreographed ceremony.
A number of children appeared on the stage wearing shirts with photographs of Hamas leaders who had been killed.
The three men were kidnapped at the Nova music festival near the border with Gaza. They appeared thin but in better condition than some of the previous freed hostages, whose appearance sparked alarm in Israel. Shem Tov seemed to engage with some of the Hamas fighters on stage and blew a kiss toward the crowd.
A sixth hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, 37, an Arab-Israeli from a Bedouin community in southern Israel who walked into Gaza in 2015, was turned over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, according to an Israeli security source and a Hamas source.
Al-Sayed and Mengistu both reportedly have serious mental health conditions. They were captured by Hamas about a decade ago, while the four others were taken during the militant group’s October 7, 2023, attack.
The Israeli military said the hostages had crossed into Israel and would receive medical assessments before being reunited with their families.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, 620 prisoners are expected to be released from Israeli detention in return – a slightly higher figure than previously reported and the largest number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged since the ceasefire deal began.
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