The Israeli army claims that the sixth and last hostage was published by Hamas in the last exchange on Saturday and returned to Israel when increased tensions have darkened the future of Fragile ceasefire agreement.
The six included three Israeli men seized with Nova music festival And another kidnapped during his visit to his family in southern Israel when activists stormed the border border in October 7, 2023, attacks that sparked an Israel campaign at nearly 16 month in the Gaza Strip.
Two of the hostages have been detained by Hamas for about a decade since they each entered by Gaza alone.
Five of the captives were given during staged ceremonies that the Red Cross and Israel have condemned in the past – highlighted by masked and armed fighters from Hamas in front of hundreds of Palestinians before being transferred to vehicles The Red Cross.
In the central city of Nuseirat, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem TovAnd Eliya Cohen was laid alongside Hamas fighters on the stage. A radiant shem tov even kissed two activists next to him on his head and kisses at the crowd.
Ohad zwigenberg / ap
Looking at the exit, the family and friends of Cohen in Israel chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” And applauded when they saw it for the first time. Shem tov’s grandmother of joy, screaming, “Omer, my joy! My life!” As she saw.
Cohen’s fiancé, Ziv Abud, avoided capture by hiding under a bunch of the night of the concert. Abud, whose story has been told See the studio documentary “We Will Dance Again”, ” said to Daily telegraph The fact that she knows that the man who could come out will be very different from the person who was torn off by Hamas terrorists more than 16 months ago.
“We are going to start with healing and starting from there,” said Abud before his release. “I want to believe that he is always the same Eliya, that he will love the same things we love. We liked traveling. We liked to dance. But we will see. He had all this time who told him what he has to do.
The three men were placed in Red Cross vehicles which then headed for Israel. The Israeli army said the three were on the custody and suffered an initial medical assessment before finding their families.
During this meeting, Shem Tov called his “hero” parents as they kissed, laughing and crying, near the Gaza border.
“You are incredible. You have no idea what I dreamed of you.”
Earlier Saturday, two other hostages – Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38 years old – were released. The two arrived in Israel, the two were taken to medical centers for examination.
Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, entered Gaza alone in 2014. His family told Israeli media that he had struggled with mental health problems. Looking at the transfer on the Israeli media, Mengistu’s family broke out in a Hebrew song, “here is the light”, as they saw for the first time in more than a decade.
“This is an unforgettable moment, when all the emotions mix quickly. Our tal is with us,” the Shoham family said in a statement, calling for an agreement to be concluded for the release of all those who are still captive. Shoham’s wife, two young children and three other parents who were kidnapped with him were released in an exchange in November 2023. “There is a window of opportunity; we must not miss it.”
Ariel Schalit / AP
Later, the Israeli army said that the last hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, had been released. The Israeli Bedouins crossed alone in Gaza in 2015. His family told Israeli media that he had already received a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Later on Saturday, more than 600 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel should be released. It is the greatest release of a day prisoners in the first phase of the ceasefire. The prisoners who freed themselves include 50 of the perpetuity sentences, 60 with long sorrows, 47 which were released under a previous exchange of hostages for prison and 445 Palestinians seized by Israeli troops in Gaza since the start of the war.
Among those who should be released, Nael Barghouti, 67 years old. He spent 45 years in Israeli prisons, more than any other Palestinian. He was arrested for the first time in 1978 for killing an Israeli bus driver. He was released in a prisoner exchange agreement in October 2011, then restarted in 2014 for violating his liberation conditions. According to the current exchange agreement, the liberated prisoners sentenced for having killed Israelis must be expelled, leaving Barghouti unable to return home to the West Bank.
The remains of Shiri Bibas have returned, says the family
The last exchange of hostages goes before the tensions mounted on a macabre and tearing dispute triggered this week when Hamas initially handed the Bad body for Shiri BibasAn Israeli mother of two young boys kidnapped by activists.
The remains that Hamas transferred with the bodies of his sons Thursday were then determined to be those of an unidentified Palestinian woman. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised revenge for “a cruel and malicious violation”, while Hamas suggested that it was a mistake.
Friday evening, the small militant group suspected of having held Bibas and his sons – the Palestinian brigades of the Mujahedeen – said that he had given a second body. Bibas family said on Saturday morning that the Israeli medical authorities confirmed that the remains were his.
ODED BALLILTY / AP
“For 16 months, we have looked for certainty, and now that it is here, it does not comfort, although we hope it marks the start of the closure,” said the family.
The dispute on the identity of the body has raised a new doubt about the ceasefire agreement, which took a break on 15 months of war but approaches the end of its first phase. Negotiations on a second phaseIn which Hamas would release dozens of additional hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal, it is probably even more difficult.
First phase of the ceasefire which should end next week
Hamas said it would also release four other bodies next week, ending the first phase of the ceasefire. If this plan is carried out, Hamas would keep around 60 hostages, about half of which would be alive.
Yael Alexander, whose son Edan would be the last American hostage, said that the situation was a “nightmare”.
“If suddenly they have decided” ok, it does not work, let’s stop and that’s it, no hostage versions, it will be a disaster for us families, “said Alexander.
The Bibas family declared “that there is no more important objective” than the release of the remaining hostages.
Hamas said it would not release the remaining lustful captives and a complete Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the Full support from the Trump administrationsaid it is determined to destroy military capacities and governing Hamas and to return all hostages, objectives widely considered to be mutually exclusive.
Trump Proposal to remove around 2 million Palestinians From Gaza so that the United States can own and rebuild, it has put the ceasefire in doubt. His idea was greeted by Netanyahu but universally rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab countries.
Trump said on Friday that he was “a little surprised” by the refusal of the proposal by Egypt And Jordan and that he would not impose it.
“I’m going to tell you that the way of doing it is my plan. I think it’s the plan that really works. But I don’t force it. I’m just going to sit and recommend it,” said Trump in a Interview with Fox News.
The military offensive of Israel killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says he killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing whole districts in rubble. At its peak, the war moved 90% of the population of Gaza. Many have returned home to no longer find how to rebuild.
“We had enough war,” said CBS News Wahiba Muheisen, who lost her husband and three sons and now lives in a tent next to her ruined house. “I lost so much.”
