Palestinian militants released two Israeli hostages on Saturday, February 22, in the initial stages of a fragile truce, including the initial stage of a swap of Palestinian prisoners.
The press release comes after the emotional period in Israel after the Shiri Bibas family confirmed on Saturday that they received her body. Since the beginning of the Gaza War, Bibas and her two young sons have become symbols of the suffering suffered by the Israeli hostages.
Militants captured dozens of prisoners in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered more than 15 months of conflict in Gaza.
In Rafa, southern Gaza, armed and masked combatants escorted Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu into the stage before they could speak to Shoham. The two were then handed over to the Red Cross and transported them to the convoy. According to the military, Israeli security forces later detained them and sent them back to Israeli territory.
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people gathered in the “Hostage Square” and were filled with applause and tears as they watched the released broadcast.
Four other hostages will be released later that morning in another exchange in central Gaza. The Hostages and Missing Family Forum has released the names of those expected to be released: Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as Shoham and Mengistu. Sayed and Mengistu were detained in Gaza for about ten years.
The hostages were released, part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal that began on January 19, and is scheduled to expire in early March. Hamas sources confirmed that four hostages were planned to be released from Nuseirat in central Gaza later that day.
In both release locations, militants staged a ritual mastery, promoting their cause in front of the banner and respecting the fallen warriors. The Red Cross repeatedly called for a switch with dignity.
In the cold rain in Rafah, Hamas fighters demonstrated a force and stood with automatic weapons and rocket launchers while Palestinian nationalist music was played. Around the buildings destroyed in the war, the green flag of Hamas was prominently displayed.
Meanwhile, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Club Advocacy group, Israel will release 602 Palestinian prisoners as part of the exchange. Most of them were Gaza people arrested after the war began, and some were facing deportation outside Israeli and Palestinian territories, a spokeswoman said. The person who was fired was sentenced to heavy sentences.
So far, the ceasefire has released 21 Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
The first hostage agency was transferred on Thursday after the hostage was released on Saturday. Hamas initially claimed that Shiri Bibas’s remains were returned, but Israeli authorities later determined that they were not hers, resulting in widespread grief and anger. Hamas later admitted to the “possibility of causing mistakes or mixed bodies”, blaming the chaos of Israel’s air strikes.
The Red Cross confirmed more transfers of the remains on Friday, but did not disclose who they were. The Bibas family later said: “After the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, this morning, we received the news that we were most worried about. Our Siri was imprisoned and murdered and has now returned to her son, husband, sister and all of her. family rest.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing domestic pressure on his war and hostage situation, vowed Friday to “make sure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil breach of the agreement.”
On Friday, February 20, Israeli military spokesman, the Israeli military spokesman, said that analysis of the remains confirmed that Palestinian militants have K! Israeli air strikes K! In the early days of the war, the children and their mothers.
Ofri Bibas, Shiri’s sister son, said the family was “not seeking revenge now” but was criticized in Netanyahu, noting that “no” due to failure to ensure the safety of the mother and her young son. forgive”.
Of the four bodies returned on Thursday, February 20, there is 83-year-old ODED LIFSHITZ. Hamas and its allies took 251 hostages in the October 7 attack that triggered the war. Of these, 65 remained in Gaza, and 35 of them were said to be dead.
According to official Israeli figures, the attack killed 1,215 people in Israel, mainly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 48,319 people in Gaza, most of whom are civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which the United Nations believes is reliable.
