Hamas releases six hostages as Israel prepares to free hundreds of Palestinians
Palestinians gather as Hamas fighters escort Red Cross vehicles after the handover of Israeli hostages in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The Israeli military says the sixth and final hostage has been released by Hamas in the latest exchange on Saturday and has arrived back in Israel.
The hostage was not immediately identified but is expected to be Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, a Bedouin Israeli with a history of mental illness who crossed on his own into Gaza in 2015 and had been held since.
Five of the hostages were released earlier on Saturday in staged ceremonies that both Israel and the Red Cross have condemned in the past. The last one was released separately on Saturday afternoon without a ceremony.
A total of 25 Israeli hostages were released in the first stage of the ceasefire.
In the central town of Nuseirat three Israeli men in their 20s – Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen – were brought out by masked, armed Hamas fighters to pose on a stage before hundreds of Palestinians.
They were dressed in fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when they were kidnapped. Mr Shem Tov and Mr Wenkert smiled and waved at the crowd.
A beaming Mr Shem Tov blew kisses to the crowd, flashed the thumbs up, and even kissed the militant next to him on the head.
The Israeli military says its forces in Gaza received the three hostages and was bringing them back into Israel. In a statement, the military said the three would undergo an initial medical assessment.
Watching the release, Mr Cohen’s family and friends in Israel chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” and cheered when they saw him for the first time.
Mr Shem Tov’s grandmother ululated in joy, shrieking “Omer, my joy! My life!” as she saw him.
The three were put in Red Cross vehicles which then headed for Israel.
Mr Cohen, Mr Shem Tov and Mr Wenkert were abducted by Hamas fighters at the Nova music festival when militants stormed into southern Gaza on October 7 2023 in the attack that triggered the nearly 16-month Israeli campaign in Gaza.
Earlier on Saturday, Israelis Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, were put into Red Cross vehicles after being brought out onto a stage by masked and armed Hamas fighters in front of a crowd in Rafah in southern Gaza. Soon after, the Israeli military confirmed that the two had been brought into Israel.
A few hours later, Red Cross vehicles arrived in Nuseirat for the next handover.
The latest hostage releases, to be followed by the freeing of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, went after tensions mounted over a dispute triggered this week when Hamas initially handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother of two young boys abducted by militants.
The remains that Hamas transferred with her sons’ bodies on Thursday were later determined to be those of an unidentified Palestinian woman.
In response, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge for “a cruel and malicious violation”, while Hamas suggested it had been a mistake.
On Friday night, the small militant group believed to have been holding Ms Bibas and her sons – the Palestinian Mujahedeen Brigades – said it handed over a second body. On Saturday morning, Ms Bibas’s family said Israeli forensic authorities had confirmed the remains were hers.
“For 16 months we sought certainty, and now that it’s here, it brings no comfort, though we hope it marks the beginning of closure,” the family said.
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