By James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Hamas freed 5 hostages and was set to launch another from Gaza on Saturday in alternate for lots of of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, after Israel confirmed {that a} physique 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 positioning of the Nova music pageant in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel, had been handed over to the Crimson Cross to be transported to Israeli forces.
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Dozens of masked militants stood guard in a crowd that had gathered to look at the handover, as Hamas males armed with automated rifles stood on all sides of the three hostages, who appeared skinny and pale, as they had been made to wave from the stage.
Tal Shoham, 40 and Avera Mengistu, 39, had been launched in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier.
A sixth hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was anticipated to be launched in Gaza Metropolis.
Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been held by Hamas since they entered Gaza of their very own accord round a decade in the past. Shoham was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri alongside together with his spouse and two youngsters, who had been freed in a short truce in November 2023.
The six are the final residing hostages from a gaggle of 33 on account of be freed within the first stage of the ceasefire deal that took impact on January 19. Round 60 extra captives, lower than half of whom are believed to be alive, stay in Gaza.
Tons of of Israelis gathered within the rain in what has turn out to be generally known as Hostages Sq. in Tel Aviv. Some lit candles below photographs of the Bibas household, whose our bodies had been returned this week, and others cheered as they watched the discharge on display screen.
Amongst these watching the discharge broadcast on a big display screen was Yael Alexander. Her son, a soldier and a twin U.S.-Israeli nationwide, was kidnapped from a army base close to Gaza within the October assault.
“It is giving me loads of hope that our son Edan will likely be subsequent,” she mentioned.
Additional south, extra folks lined the street close to the Gaza border to welcome the convoy carrying the freed captives.
The Hamas-directed releases, which have included public ceremonies during which captives are taken on stage and a few made to talk, have confronted mounting criticism, together with from the United Nations, which denounced the “parading of hostages”.
Hamas rejected the criticism on Saturday, describing the ceremonies as a solemn present of Palestinian unity.
In return for the hostages, Israel is predicted to launch 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails within the newest stage of a ceasefire deal that has largely held.
They may embody 445 Gazans rounded up by Israeli forces through the warfare, in addition to dozens of convicts serving prolonged or life phrases, in line with Hamas.
SLAIN IN CAPTIVITY
The delicate truce within the warfare between Israel and Hamas militants had been threatened with derailment by the misidentification of a physique launched on Thursday as that of Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her two younger sons and her husband within the Hamas 2023 assault.
Nonetheless, late on Friday, Hamas handed over one other physique, which her household mentioned had been confirmed to be hers.
“Final night time, our Shiri was returned dwelling,” her household mentioned in a press release, which mentioned she had been recognized by Israel’s Institute of Forensic Drugs.
The Bibas household has been an emblem of the trauma suffered by Israel on that day. The misidentification of the stays of Bibas, in addition to the staged handover of their coffins by Hamas outraged Israelis. Her husband Yarden, seized and held individually from his household, was freed on February 1.
The Israeli army mentioned intelligence assessments and forensic evaluation of the our bodies of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel confirmed each had been killed intentionally by their captors, “in chilly blood.”
Israel’s Military Radio, citing the forensic conclusions, mentioned Bibas was probably slain along with her youngsters.
Hamas says the Bibas household was killed by an Israeli airstrike. A gaggle known as the Mujahideen Brigades mentioned it was holding the household, which was confirmed by the Israeli army.
CEASEFIRE
The ceasefire has introduced a pause within the preventing, however prospects of a definitive finish to the warfare stay unclear. Hamas has been at pains to reveal that it stays in management in Gaza regardless of heavy losses within the warfare.
The militant group triggered the battle by its assault on Israeli communities that killed 1,200 and took 251 hostages, in line with Israel.
The Israeli marketing campaign has killed not less than 48,000 folks, the Palestinian well being authorities say, and diminished a lot of the enclave to rubble, leaving some lots of of 1000’s in makeshift shelters and depending on support vans.
Each side have mentioned they intend to start out talks on a second stage, which mediators say goals to agree the return of all remaining hostages and the total withdrawal of Israeli troops.
(Extra reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Hatem Maher and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Rami Amichay in Tel Aviv; Writing by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell; Modifying by Diane Craft, William Mallard and Sharon Singleton)
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