Palestinian militants yesterday freed five Israeli hostages, among the last living captives to be released under the first phase of a fragile truce that is also expected to include the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Freedom for the captives capped an emotional two days in Israel, where the family of another hostage, Shiri Bibas, earlier yesterday confirmed receipt of her remains. Bibas and her two young sons had become symbols of the ordeal endured by Israeli hostages since the Gaza war began.
Palestinian militants seized dozens of captives during an unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered more than 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip.
Photo: Reuters
At a ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza, masked Hamas militants brought onto a stage Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Israeli-Argentine Omer Wenkert, 23.
They waved while holding release certificates before their handover to the Red Cross, who took them away in a convoy after more than 16 months of captivity.
The military said they were later back home on Israeli soil.
At a similar ceremony earlier yesterday in Rafah, southern Gaza, militants handed over Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, who both appeared dazed. Shoham was made to address the gathering, flanked by armed and masked fighters dressed all in black.
In Tel Aviv, hundreds who gathered at a site known as “Hostages Square” applauded and some appeared to weep as they watched the releases.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum had published the names of six Israelis to be freed on Saturday. Among them, it listed Hisham al-Sayed, 37.
Sayed, a Bedouin Muslim, and Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, were captured in Gaza about a decade ago after they entered the territory individually on their own accord.
A Hamas source had said the group would free four captives in Nuseirat, but the details of Sayed’s expected release were not immediately clear.
“Our family has endured 10 years and five months of unimaginable suffering,” Mengistu’s family said in a statement.
Relatives of Shoham wept and embraced as they watched his handover, video released by the Israeli government showed.
“We saw that Tal seems well considering the circumstances. An enormous weight is lifted from us,” the family of the Austrian-Israeli dual national said in a statement.
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