Hamas frees more hostages
JERUSALEM—Hamas freed two hostages and was set to release four more from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, after Israel confirmed that a body handed over hours earlier was that of hostage Shiri Bibas.
Tal Shoham, 40 and Avera Mengistu, 39, were handed over to the Red Cross in southern Gaza’s Rafah after they were led onto a stage by armed Hamas militants.
Four more were expected to be released in central Gaza soon after.
The six hostages slated for release on Saturday are the last living hostages from a group of 33 due to be freed in the first stage of the ceasefire deal that took effect on Jan. 19.
Four of the hostages, Shoham, Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were seized by Hamas gunmen during their attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
‘Parading of hostages’
Two others, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Mengistu have been held by Hamas since they entered Gaza separately under unexplained circumstances around a decade ago.
The Hamas-directed releases, which have included public ceremonies in which captives are taken on stage and some made to speak, have faced mounting criticism, including from the United Nations, which denounced the “parading of hostages.”
In return, Israel is expected to release 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal that has largely held.
They will include 445 Gazans rounded up by Israeli forces during the war, as well as dozens of convicts serving lengthy or life terms, according to Hamas.
Bibas slain
The fragile truce in the war between Israel and Hamas militants had been threatened with derailment by the misidentification of a body released on Thursday as that of Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two young sons and her husband in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
However, late on Friday, Hamas handed over another body, which her family said had been confirmed to be hers.
“Last night, our Shiri was returned home,” her family said in a statement, which said she had been identified by Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine.
The Bibas family has been an emblem of the trauma suffered by Israel on that day.
The misidentification of the remains of Shiri Bibas, as well as the staged handover of their coffins by Hamas outraged Israelis. Her husband Yarden, seized and held separately from his family, was freed on Feb. 1.
