Fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues as more hostages are released

Hamas releases the top five of six Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday A fragile ceasefire deal.

Five including three Israeli men participated Nova Music Festival Another kidnapped while militants visited their families in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering an attack on Israel's nearly 16-month campaign in Gaza.

Hamas' fifth man held by the company and the sixth man to be released late Saturday have been released for about a decade since Hamas entered Gaza alone.

They handed over to the Red Cross at two separate ceremonies in Gaza, and were brought out on the stage by masked, armed Hamas fighters in front of hundreds of Palestinians. In the central town of Nuseirat, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov Eliya Cohen poses with the warriors – The Spooky Forest (Shem Tov) even kisses the radicals next to him and blows toward the crowd. They were then placed in the Red Cross vehicles and brought to Israeli troops.

Watch the release, Cohen’s family and Israeli friends chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” They cheered when they first met him. Shem Tov's grandmother melted happily, screaming, “Omer, my joy! My life!” when she saw him. The three were put into the Red Cross vehicle and headed to Israel. The Israeli military said the three were detained and injured and underwent preliminary medical assessments.

Earlier in the day, two other hostages – Avara Mengistu, identified as 38, who entered Gaza in 2014 and have been detained there since then, while Taal Ho, 40, Tal Shoham was taken hostage on October 7 – sent to the Red Cross. Being brought to the stage by masked and armed Hamas fighters in front of the crowd in Rafa, a city in southern Gaza. Soon after, the Israeli military confirmed that the two had been brought into Israel.

“It's a memorable moment, all emotions are quickly mixing together. Our TAL is with us,” Shoham's family said in a statement. Three kidnapped relatives were released during the November 2023 exchange. “There is a window of opportunity; we must not miss it.”

Ethiopia – Israel's Musetus has been in Gaza since entering Gaza alone in 2014. Watching the handover in Israeli media, the Hebrew songs erupted in Mongistu’s family, “This is Light”, “This is Light” for more than a decade.

The sixth man is also expected to be released on Saturday. Hisham al-Sayed, 36, entered Gaza in 2015 and has held it ever since.

The Palestinian Prisoner Media Office said Friday that more than 600 Palestinians who were imprisoned in Israel will be released in exchange. The released prisoners include 50 sentences, 60 long sentences, and 47 were released in former hostage-prisoner exchanges, and Israeli forces have occupied 445 Palestinians in Gaza since the beginning of the war.

Family said

Tensions have intensified painful and heart-warming controversy when Hamas initially handed over this week, with the latest hostage exchange in progress Shiri Bibas's wrong bodyis two Israeli mothers kidnapped by militants.

Hamas's body Transferring the body with his son Later, it was identified as an unidentified Palestinian woman on Thursday. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to take revenge for “cruel and malicious violations”, which Hamas believed was a mistake.

The small armed group was believed to have been holding Bibas and her son – the Palestinian Mujahideen Brigade – on Friday night, saying it handed over a second body. On Saturday morning, Bibas' family said Israeli forensic authorities had confirmed the body was hers.

“For 16 months we sought certainty, and now it's here, it won't bring comfort, even though we hope it marks the beginning of the closure,” the family said.

The dispute over human identity has raised new suspicions about the ceasefire agreement, which has been suspended in a 15-month war but is about to end the end of the first phase. The second phase of negotiationwhich Hamas will release dozens of hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and Israeli evacuation, could be even more difficult.

The first phase of the ceasefire will end next week

Hamas said four more bodies will be released next week to complete the first phase of the ceasefire. Hamas will keep about 60 hostages if the plan is implemented, about half of them are considered alive.

Yael Alexander's son Edan, who is considered the last living hostage in the United States, said the situation was a “nightmare.”

“If all of a sudden they decide 'ok, that's not going to work, let's stop and just like that, without the release of hostages, it will be a disaster for our families.”

The Bibas family's statement said, “There is no more important goal than the release of hostages.”

Hamas said that without a lasting ceasefire and the evacuation of all Israel, the remaining prisoners would not be released. Netanyahu, with All support from the Trump administrationHe said he was committed to destroying Hamas' military and management capabilities and returning to all hostages, a goal widely regarded as mutually exclusive.

Trump's Proposed to remove approximately 2 million Palestinians From Gaza, the United States can own and rebuild it, which makes the ceasefire even more questionable. His idea was popular with Netanyahu, but was generally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries.

Trump said Friday he was “slightly surprised” by rejecting the proposal Egypt and Jordan And he won't impose it.

“I will tell you that the way to do this is my plan. I think it's a plan that works. But I'm not forcing it. I'm just going to sit down and recommend it,” Trump said in a copy. Interview.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel's military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, and the ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel said it has killed more than 17,000 fighter jets and provided no evidence.

The offensive destroyed the vast area of ​​Gaza and reduced the entire community to rubble. At its peak, war accounted for 90% of Gaza's population. Many people return home and find what’s left and have not rebuilt.

“We've had enough war,” Wahiba Muheisen, who lost her husband and three sons, now lives in a tent next to her destroyed home, told CBS News. “I lost a lot.”