Six Israeli hostages, including two men held captive in Gaza for at least 10 years, have been released by Hamas after days of tensions threatened to scupper a fragile ceasefire with Israel.
Later in the day at least 600 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are expected to be freed in exchange. Among them would be at least five journalists and the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, local media and family members reported.
In the morning, Avera Mengistu, who had been held by militants since he crossed into the besieged strip in 2014, was released first alongside Tal Shoham, 40, who also has Austrian citizenship and was seized from Kibbutz Be’eri during Hamas’s bloody assault on 7 October 2023. Both were handed over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
The family of Mr Mengistu, who was born in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel at the age of five, said their relative had endured over a decade of “unimaginable suffering”. Mr Mengistu crossed into Gaza through Zikim in September 2014. His family said for nine years they had no indication of his condition until the first sign of life arrived in January 2023 when Hamas released a video of him.
“During this time, there have been continuous efforts to secure his return, with prayers and pleas, some silent, that remained unanswered until today,” they added.
Later in front of hundreds of Palestinians in the central town of Nuseirat, three Israeli men – Omer Wenkert, 23, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Eliya Cohen, 27, – were brought out by masked, armed Hamas fighters to pose on a stage dressed in fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when they were kidnapped. The trio were all seized from the Nova Festival on 7 October 2023.
The final release was Hisham al-Sayed, 36, a Bedouin Arab Israeli man who reportedly struggles with mental health challenges. He crossed into Gaza in early April 2015 and has been held by Hamas ever since.
The latest hostage release, along with the freeing of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Isreal, is going ahead after a heart-wrenching and grisly dispute over the last exchange. Hamas initially handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother of two young boys abducted by militants. Bibas and her two toddlers – one of them just eight months old – were killed in Gaza. Her body was handed to Israel overnight Friday.
More than 600 Palestinians jailed in Israel will also be freed on Saturday, the Palestinian prisoners’ media office said Friday. The prisoners set for release include 50 serving life sentences, 60 with long sentences, 47 who were released under a previous hostage-for-prisoner exchange and 445 prisoners from Gaza arrested since the war began. Among them were five Palestinian journalists arrested since 7 October 2023 and 71-year-old Abdulrahman Saleh, from Jenin, who suffers from impaired hearing and vision, Palestinian media reported.
Also on the list for release is Nael Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian detainee who has spent more than 40 years, or two-thirds of his life, behind bars. Mr Saleh and Mr Barghouti are set to be released to Egypt and barred from returning home to the occupied West Bank.
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Mr Barghouti’s family, who are based in the occupied West Bank, told The Independent Israel has also prevented them from travelling to be reunited with him.
In Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis gathered in the rain cheering as they watched the release on a large screen. In the south of the country along the border with Gaza, more people lined the road to welcome the convoy carrying the freed captives.
The six Israeli hostages are the final living captives to be freed under phase one of the fragile ceasefire – Hamas said it will also release four more bodies next week. Under the agreement, 33 hostages were set to be released under the first phase, which comes to an end at the beginning of March.
If everything is carried out, Hamas would retain about 60 hostages, about half of whom are believed to be alive.
The family of Mr Shoham, who was seized alongside his wife Adi, their children Nave, eight, and Yahel, three, as well as other family members, called his release an “unforgettable moment”. Adi, Nave and Yahel were released during the November 2023 exchange deal.
“At this crucial moment in our lives, our only request is to seize this window of opportunity to secure a deal that will bring fathers back to their children – children need their fathers – and return all hostages home,” they said.
“There is a window of opportunity; we must not miss it,” they added.
The family of Eliya Cohen, who was seized from a shelter on 7 October where he had left his girlfriend, who survived, and her nephew, who was killed, said until his release they had no information about his physical or mental condition.
“He was dragged into hell. Seeing him today strengthens us and gives us great hope for the long rehabilitation process ahead,” they added.
The family of Mr Shem Tov said they were relieved he returned home despite medical difficulties.
“We say ‘Just a bit more, just a little more.’ These are days of bereavement and hope; our lives are intertwined until everyone returns.”
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Meanwhile, Aman Nafa, the wife of soon-to-be-released prisoner Mr Barghouti, told The Independent that she had been informed her husband would be deported to Egypt and not permitted to return home. She said Israel had also forbidden her and other families from travelling to Egypt to visit their released loved ones.
“Nael is going to be released but [Israel] will deport him outside. I am happy that he is safe but not happy that they prevented me from seeing him,” she said.
“So I am in the house between [being] happy and crying.”
She added that one wife was told that she would have to wait one year until she could be reunited with her husband and then only on the condition she didn’t return to the occupied West Bank for five years.
Hamas militants captured 251 people and killed 1,200 more during their bloody assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. Israel launched an unprecedented assault on Gaza in retaliation killing over 48,000 people and displacing more than 90 per cent of the 2 million-strong population.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighbourhoods to rubble.
