Hamas released two hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners as part of the fragile cease-fire agreement with Israel.
The men were identified as Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39 years old. Video sequences have shown the two men with fragile and frightened air while they went on stage in front of a crowd while he was flanked by masked armed men. They were returned to the Red Cross and were on the way to the forces of the TDI.
Four additional hostages – Omer Wenkert, 23 years old; Omer Shem Tov, 22 years old; Hisham al-Sayed, 36 years old; And Eliya Cohen, 27 – also had to be released later on Saturday.
Two of the hostages – Mengistu and Al -Sayed – are civilians who have been detained since their entry into Gaza more than a decade ago, long before the attack on the Hamas War, October 7, 2023, the attack Against Israel, which prompted the army to Hamas reprisals of the Israeli forces.
This occurs while the delicate agreement of ceasefire concluded a month ago remains in place despite the recent revelations which were returned to Israel, as promised by Hamas.
The remains of Shiri Bibas, mother of two of two killed, would have returned to Israel after the broken promise of Hamas
A boy holds a weapon as he stands next to a Hamas hunter standing in position before putting four bodies to the Red Cross back to Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, February 20, 2025. (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas “would pay the high price” for allegedly gave the body of a Gaza Palestinian instead of the Israeli hostage body. The wires of the hostage – Ariel and Kfir Bibas – as well as Oded Liffhitz were returned by Hamas on Thursday as planned.
On Friday evening, Hamas said that he had given Shiri Bibas’s body to the Red Cross, which confirmed that he had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to the Israeli authorities. Bibas’ family confirmed their identity early on Saturday.
The terrorist group responds after omitting to return the body of murdered hostages Shiri Bibas
The Red Cross vehicles arrive to collect coffins containing four bodies given by Hamas activists to Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, February 20, 2025. (AP)
Hamas said that it “had no interest in retaining bodies in its possession”. The terrorist group said that the dead hostages given Thursday had been killed by an Israeli air strike in November 2023 and that the bodies could have been poorly identified due to bombing in the region.
A Shiri Bibas watch poster, which was kidnapped in Gaza with her husband and two young sons on October 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Friday, February 21, 2025. (AP)
The terrorist group also killed Ariel and Kfir Bibas “with bare hands”, according to the Israeli army, which did not provide evidence to support the complaint.
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The counter-admiral Daniel Hagari alleged that the forensic analysis of Bibas’ bodies of boys showed that Hamas “had not shot the boys”, but “killed them with bare hands” and then ” committed horrible acts to cover these atrocities “. Hagari said Liffhitz had been killed by kidnappers inside Gaza.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
