Hamas has handed over five out of six hostages who were to be released in Gaza on Saturday, the final living captives whom the warring sides agreed would be freed when a ceasefire began last month. Israel is due to release about 600 Palestinian detainees in exchange.
Thousands, including Hamas fighters, gathered in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where three of the hostages – Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 – were handed over to the Red Cross in another heavily choreographed ceremony. A number of children appeared on the stage wearing shirts with photographs of Hamas leaders who had been killed.
The three men appeared thin but in better condition than some of the previous freed hostages, whose condition sparked alarm in Israel. Shem Tov appeared to engage with some of the Hamas fighters on stage and blew a kiss toward the crowd.
An earlier exchange on Saturday saw two captives released at a separate location in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. They were Tal Shoham, 40, who was kidnapped from kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, and Avera Mengistu, 38, an Israeli from Ashkelon, who crossed into Gaza in 2014.
The five hostages later crossed into Israel after being handed over to the Israeli military by the Red Cross, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Another hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, 37, an Arab-Israeli from a Bedouin community in southern Israel who walked into Gaza in 2015, was also expected to be handed over at Nuseirat but is now due to be released at a different location. A source in Hamas told CNN that al-Sayed was being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, and added that he was very ill.
al-Sayed and Mengistu reportedly have serious mental health conditions. – CNN
