NUSEIRAT: Palestinian fighters freed six Israeli hostages on Saturday, with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners expected to be released in exchange under a fragile Gaza truce that is nearing the end of its first phase.
The release of the last group of living hostages under the truce’s first phase caps an emotional two days in Israel, where the remains of another hostage, Shiri Bibas, have been identified after the initial handover of a different body.
Bibas and her two young sons, among dozens taken captive during Hamas attack on Israel that triggered more than 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip, had become symbols of the ordeal suffered by the Israeli hostages.
At a ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza, masked Hamas brought onto a stage Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Israeli-Argentine Omer Wenkert, 23.
An AFP correspondent said they waved while holding release certificates before their handover to the Red Cross and return to Israeli soil.
Hamas to free 6 Israeli Gaza hostages, hand over 4 bodies this week
At a similar ceremony in Rafah, southern Gaza, fighters handed over Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, who both appeared dazed.
Shoham was made to address the gathering, flanked by masked gunmen dressed all in black.
In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, hundreds who gathered at a site known as “Hostages Square” applauded and weeped as they watched a live broadcast of the releases.
A sixth hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, 37, was later released and taken back to Israeli territory, the military said.
Sayed, a Bedouin Muslim, and Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, had been held in Gaza for about a decade after they entered the territory individually.
“Our family has endured 10 years and five months of unimaginable suffering”, Mengistu’s family said in a statement.
Sayed’s family called it “a long-awaited moment” and said they were “moved”.
Relatives of Shoham wept and embraced as they watched his handover, video released by Israel’s government showed.
Hamas releases three Israeli hostages as Gaza ceasefire holds
“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.
The releases came under the first phase of a ceasefire deal which began on January 19 and is due to expire in early March.
Well-practised ceremony
Under a cold winter rain in Rafah, and in Nuseirat, Hamas staged a show of force after months of bombardment and strikes that killed the group’s top leaders.
In what has become a well-practised ceremony since the truce began, stages were set up in front of large posters promoting the fighters’ cause or praising fallen fighters.
Some fighters held rifles, others rocket launchers, as nationalistic Palestinian music blared.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the hostage-prisoner exchanges, has repeatedly appealed for handovers to take place in a dignified manner.
Three Israeli hostages released in Gaza as ceasefire holds
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said Israel would free on Saturday 602 inmates, most of them Gazans taken into custody during the war, as part of the latest exchange.
The ceasefire has so far seen 24 living Israeli hostages freed from Gaza in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians released from Israeli jails.
On Thursday the first transfer of hostages’ bodies took place under the truce.
But there was anger in Israel after analysis had concluded that Shiri Bibas’s remains were not among the four bodies returned.
Hamas then admitted a possible “mix-up of bodies”, which it attributed to Israeli bombing of the area.
Late Friday the Red Cross confirmed the transfer of more human remains to Israel “at the request of both parties”.
Kibbutz confirms death of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas
Early Saturday, the Bibas family said in a statement that after an identification process, “we received the news we feared the most. Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family to rest.”
Domestic pressure
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – under domestic pressure over his handling of the war and the hostages – vowed Hamas would pay “the full price” for what he termed a violation of the truce deal over the return of Shiri Bibas.
Hamas hands over bodies of youngest Gaza hostages taken from Israel
Israel’s military said that, after an analysis of the remains, Palestinian fighters killed the Bibas boys, Ariel and Kfir, “with their bare hands” in November 2023.
The family on Saturday said it has “not received any such details from official sources”.
Hamas has long maintained an Israeli air strike killed them and their mother early in the war.
