Hamas released two hostages and plans to release four more people from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees after Israel confirmed that the body handed over to the hostage hours ago was hostage Shiri Bibas .
Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39, were handed over to southern Gaza after being brought to the stage by armed Hamas militants. The Red Cross. Four are expected to be released in central Gaza soon.
The six hostages scheduled to be released on Saturday are the last of 33 people released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement that will take effect on January 19.
Four of the hostages, Shoham, 27, Eliya Cohen, 22, Omer Shem Tov, and 23, were caught by Hamas gunmen during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Shoham was kidnapped by Kibbutz Be'eri along with his wife and two children, who were released in November 2023 during a brief truce. The other three were taken from the nearby Nova music festival.
Hamas has held two other men, Hisham al-Sayed and Mengistu, since Hamas entered Gaza separately without explanation a decade ago.
In the rain, hundreds of Israelis gathered in the rain known as the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, cheering as they watched the release on the big screen.
In the south, more and more people are lined up on roads near the Gaza border, and convoys carrying free captives are welcome.
Hamas-guided distributions include public rituals, where captives were captured on stage, some spoken, and they face increasing criticism, including from the United Nations, condemning “the march of hostages.”
Hamas rejected criticism on Saturday, describing the ceremony as a solemn show of Palestinian solidarity.
In return, Israel is expected to release 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the latest phase of the latest ceasefire agreement.
According to Hamas, that will include 445 Gaza people rounded up by Israeli troops during the war, as well as dozens of members of the charge.
During a hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel on Thursday, Israel received the remains of brothers Ariel and Kefiel Bibas, who were only four when they were taken away on October 7, 2023. At the age of 19, they are nine months old. With their mother's body, Shiri Bibas – but the remains were handed over to Israel. Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed joined Power & Politics to discuss how this affects the ongoing ceasefire.
A fragile truce in the war between Israel and Hamas militants was threatened with misidentification of the bodies released on Thursday and was threatened with derailment, with Bibas being kidnapped by her two young sons and her husband in 10 He was kidnapped in the Hamas attack on July 7. 2023.
Hamas handed over another body late Friday, and her family said it was hers.
“Last night, our Siri came home.
The Bibas family was a symbol of the trauma that Israel suffered that day. Misidentification of Shiri Bibas's body, and Hamas's phase transfer of the coffin, angered the Israelites. Her husband, Yarden, was caught on February 1 and separated from his family to help.
The Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the body of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and the body of his four-year-old brother Ariel showed that both were intentionally killed by the kidnappers, “in cold blood.”
Israel's Army Radio cited the forensic conclusion, saying that Bibas is likely to be killed by her child.
Hamas said the Bibas family was killed by Israeli air strikes. An organization called the Mujahideen Brigade said the family occupied the family, which was confirmed by the Israeli military.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to make Hamas “pay the full price” for failing to return the body, but he avoided leaving the ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on January 19.
Hamas itself accused Israel of violating a ceasefire by blocking Gaza with important aid supplies, and despite this, it was formally informed Israel that the name of the Israeli hostages would be released on Saturday, indicating that the handover would continue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would pay for failing to follow the agreed hostage Shiri Bibas's body. Israeli experts say one of the four bodies Hamas handed over on Thursday was an unidentified woman, not Bibas. Hamas said that due to Israeli air strikes, this will investigate the possibility of errors or human remains.
The ceasefire stopped in the battle, but the prospect of a clear end to the war is unclear. Hamas has been working hard to prove that despite the huge losses suffered in the war, it remains in control in Gaza.
According to Israel, attacks on Israeli communities caused conflicts, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages.
Palestinian health authorities say the Israeli campaign killed at least 48,000 people and reduced most of the enclave to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of temporary shelters and dependency trucks.
Both sides said they intend to start negotiations in the second phase, with mediators saying it aimed to agree to return about 60 people remaining, less than half of the hostages believed to be alive and evacuating Israeli forces.
But hopes for a deal have been shrouded in future divisions in Gaza that have been deepened by the regional proposals for U.S. President Donald Trump to clear the Palestinian enclave and develop it into We are a Riviera-style resort under the control of the United States.
