Hamas launched on Saturday the last six living hostages expected in the first phase of its high fire with Israel with a remaining week, since the growing questions in the next phase clouded the future of the fragile agreement.
The hostages included three Israeli men seized of the Nova Music Festival and another taken while visiting the family in southern Israel when the militants led by Hamas broke into the border in the attack of October 7, 2023, which triggered the campaign 16 months of Israel in Gaza. The other two hostages were held for a decade after entering Gaza on their own.
Five were delivered in staging ceremonies that the Red Cross and Israel have condemned as cruel and disrespectful, escorted by masked fighters from Hamas in front of hundreds of Palestinians.
Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen ford the Hamas fighters. A radiant Shem Tov kissed two militants on the head and flew kisses to the crowd.
Cohen's family and friends in Israel sang “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” And applauded.
“You are heroes,” Shem Tov told his parents while later hugging, laughing and crying. “You have no idea how much I dreamed of you.”
The earliest Saturday, Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, were released. Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, entered Gaza in 2014. His family told Israeli media that he has fought with mental health problems.
Later, Israel's army said Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was released. Israeli Bedouins entered Gaza in 2015. His family told Israeli media that he was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The launch of more than 600 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the greatest launch of one day prisoners in the first phase of Alto El Fuego, was apparently delayed for Israeli security consultations on Saturday night.
The launch of hostages followed a heartbreaking dispute caused when Hamas delivered on Thursday the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother kidnapped with her two young children. It was determined that the remains were those of a Palestinian woman.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised revenge for “a cruel and malicious violation”, while Hamas suggested that it was a mistake.
On Friday, the small militant group that is believed to be holding Bibas and their children, the Mjahedeen Palestinian brigades, delivered a body that Bibas' family said that Israeli forensic authorities confirmed that it was his.
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“Now that he is here, he does not bring comfort, although we hope he marks the beginning of the closure,” said the family.
Hamas denied the Israeli statements on Saturday that he was responsible for the deaths of Bibas' children, calling them lies aimed at justifying Israeli military actions against civilians in Gaza.
Difficult conversations probably about the next phase of high fire
The high fire agreement has stopped the most deadly and more devastating struggle between Israel and Hamas, but there are fears that the war resumes after the first phase ends.
Hamas has said that he will release four bodies next week, completing the first phase. After that, Hamas will have about 60 hostages, approximately half that is believed to be alive.
The conversations in the second phase of the high fire have not yet begun, but it is likely that the negotiations will be more difficult.
Hamas has said that the remaining captives will not release without a durable fire and the complete Israeli withdrawal of Gaza.
Netanyahu, with the complete support of the Trump administration, says that he is committed to destroying the military and government capacities of Hamas and returning to all hostages, widely seen as mutually exclusive objectives.
An Israeli official said that Netanyahu would meet with security advisors on Saturday night about the future of the fire. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting had not been formally announced, said that the discussions would focus “on the objective of returning to all our hostages, alive and dead.”
Liberated hostages bring relief and a sign of life
Cohen, Shem Tov and Wenkert were taken out with false army uniforms, although they were not soldiers when they were kidnapped.
“This is an unforgettable moment, where all emotions mix rapidly,” Shoham's family said, asking for an agreement to release everything that still remained. “There is a window of opportunity; We must not lose it. “
Shoham, who also supports Austrian citizenship, was visiting his family in Kibbutz Be'eri when Hamas militants broke out. His wife and two young children were released in an exchange of November 2023.
Mengistu's family and friends exploded in the song when they first saw him in a decade.
“Do you remember me?” A brother asked while they hugged.
Niva Wenkert, Oser's mother, told Israel channel 12 that “on the surface, it looks good, but it is not known what is inside.”
As the concerns grew on the remaining hostages, Ilan Gilboa Dalal, the father of the captive type Gilboa-Dalal, told the Israeli public station Kan that the family had received the first sign of life in eight months of a hostage newly released that had been with him.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners willing to release
The 620 Palestinian prisoners that will be released include 151 that fulfilled life or other prayers for violent attacks against the Israelis. Almost 100 will be deported, according to the Palestinian Prison Media Office.
An association of rights of Palestinian prisoners said that it includes Nael Barghouti, who spent more than 45 years in prison for an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver.
445 men are also released; 18 children from 15 to 17 years and five from 18 to 19 years old; And a woman, all seized by Israeli troops in Gaza without charge during the war.
Israel's military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says he has killed more than 17,000 combatants, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing whole neighborhoods to the debris. At its peak, the war displaced 90% of the population of Gaza. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing and no way to rebuild.
The October 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died in war.
Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip and Jahjou from Rafah. Associated Press Tia Goldenberg writers in Tel Aviv, Israel; Abdel-Kareem Hana in Nuseirat, Strip Gaza; and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.