Hamas frees five hostages in Gaza in latest transfer under truce

Hamas freed five hostages and was set to release one more from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, after Israel confirmed that a body handed over hours earlier was that of hostage Shiri Bibas.

Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, all seized from the site of the Nova music festival in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, were handed over to the Red Cross to be transported to Israeli forces.

Dozens of masked fighters stood guard in a crowd that had gathered to watch the handover, as Hamas men armed with automatic rifles stood on each side of the three hostages, who appeared thin and pale, as they were made to wave from the stage.

Tal Shoham, 40 and Avera Mengistu, 39, were released in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier.

A sixth hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was expected to be released in Gaza City.

Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been held by Hamas since they entered Gaza of their own accord around a decade ago. Shoham was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri along with his wife and two children, who were freed in a brief truce in November 2023.

The six are the last living hostages from a group of 33 due to be freed in the first stage of the ceasefire deal that took effect on January 19. Around 60 more captives, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, remain in Gaza.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered in the rain in what has become known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Some lit candles under photos of the Bibas family, whose bodies were returned this week, and others cheered as they watched the release on screen.

Among those watching the release broadcast on a large screen was Yael Alexander. Her son, a soldier and a dual U.S.-Israeli national, was abducted from a military base near Gaza in the October attack.

“It’s giving me a lot of hope that our son Edan will be next,” she said.

Further south, more people lined the road near the Gaza border to welcome the convoy carrying the freed captives.

The Hamas-directed releases, which have included public ceremonies in which captives are taken on stage and some made to speak, have faced mounting criticism, including from the United Nations, which denounced the “parading of hostages”.

Hamas rejected the criticism on Saturday, describing the ceremonies as a solemn show of Palestinian unity.

In return for the hostages, Israel is expected to release 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal that has largely held.

They will include 445 Gazans rounded up by Israeli forces during the war, as well as dozens of convicts serving lengthy or life terms, according to Hamas.

SLAIN IN CAPTIVITY

The fragile truce in the war between Israel and Hamas fighters had been threatened with derailment by the misidentification of a body released on Thursday as that of Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two young sons and her husband in the Hamas 2023 attack.

However, late on Friday, Hamas handed over another body, which her family said had been confirmed to be hers.

“Last night, our Shiri was returned home,” her family said in a statement, which said she had been identified by Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine.

The Bibas family has been an emblem of the trauma suffered by Israel on that day. The misidentification of the remains of Bibas, as well as the staged handover of their coffins by Hamas outraged Israelis. Her husband Yarden, seized and held separately from his family, was freed on February 1.

The Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel showed both had been killed deliberately by their captors, “in cold blood.”

Israel’s Army Radio, citing the forensic conclusions, said Bibas was likely slain with her children.

Hamas says the Bibas family was killed by an Israeli airstrike. A group called the Mujahideen Brigades said it was holding the family, which was confirmed by the Israeli military.

CEASEFIRE

The ceasefire has brought a pause in the fighting, but prospects of a definitive end to the war remain unclear. Hamas has been at pains to demonstrate that it remains in control in Gaza despite heavy losses in the war.

The fighters group triggered the conflict by its attack on Israeli communities that killed 1,200 and took 251 hostages, according to Israel.

The Israeli campaign has killed at least 48,000 people, the Palestinian health authorities say, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble, leaving some hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid trucks.

Both sides have said they intend to start talks on a second stage, which mediators say aims to agree the return of all remaining hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops.