Hamas published six Israeli Gaza hostages on Saturday, delivering the last living captives that should be released in the first phase of a fragile ceasefire. This truce has already been shaken this week when the militant group initially returned remains allegedly of an Israeli hostage that the tests revealed to be someone else.
Early Sunday, Israel announced that he would continue to delay the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners to whom he undertook to release on Saturday until the release of new hostages “was assured”, and Hamas undertakes to release them without “humiliating ceremony”. Hamas has published hostages in performative ceremonies to show that it still controls Gaza, which many Israeli officials have condemned.
The announcement, delivered in a press release from the Prime Minister’s office, the hours after the release of the prisoners, had already been delayed without explanation, added tensions to the ceasefire trembling between Israel and Hamas which should expire the week next.
On Thursday, Hamas had returned four bodies which, according to them, were those of the hostages who died in captivity, among which Shiri Bibas, an Israeli woman who had been kidnapped with her two young children during the attack led by Hamas on October 7 2023 it started war. The medico-legal tests of Israel have however determined that the body was not Mrs. Bibas.
Friday evening, Hamas transferred another series of remains, which, according to Israeli officials, confirmed on Saturday like those of Mrs. Bibas, whose kidnapping and death with her children have become A symbol of Israeli sorrow.
Delivery of the bad rest sparked an uproar in Israel. In addition, the Israeli authorities, rejecting Hamas ‘claims that Ms. Bibas’ children had been killed in Israeli air strikes, said their captors had killed them “with bare hands”. The episode has raised doubts about the next stages of the ceasefire agreement, especially if the exchange on Saturday would take place as planned.
In exchange for the release of the six living hostages and the bodies of four dead captives, Israel was to publish on Saturday 620 Palestinian prisoners, the largest group of prisoners to be released since the start of the ceasefire in Gaza last month. It did not happen.
The Hamas hostage transfer had initially seemed ready to maintain the agreement between the two parties on the right track after a turbulent week. Among the Israelis, the emotions have changed between joy and sorrow, while the families of the liberated hostages offered their condolences to the Bibas family and other parents whose relatives were killed.
Palestinian families waiting for their loved ones to be released also expressed contradictory emotions. “These last hours are the most difficult,” said Adeeb Saifi, the father of a Palestinian prisoner who was to be released. “They bring together all the contradictions – difficulties and relief, hope and pain, love and hatred.”
The long -term future of the agreement remains uncertain. The six -week truce, which started at the end of January, is expected to expire in early March unless Israel and Hamas accept an extension. The two parties have not yet concluded an agreement on the next stage of the ceasefire, which raises fears that the fights can soon start again.
Hamas returned the six hostages on Saturday in two highly orchestrated public ceremonies and a third transfer which was not televised. The first two to be released, Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham, were given to the Red Cross managers in the city of southern Gaza in Rafah. The Israeli army said the two men had crossed Israel and received medical assessments.
Mr. Mengistu, 38, had been the oldest in an Israeli hostage living in Gaza. Israeli of Ethiopian origin, he crossed Gaza in 2014 and was taken hostage by Hamas, who claimed that he was a soldier, although he never served in the army.
Mr. Shoham, as well as several family members, including his wife and two children, were removed from Kibbutz Be’eri, where More people were killed in the October 7 attack than in any other Israeli community. His wife, son and daughter were released during a ceasefire in November 2023, and in a statement after his release on Saturday, his family said that “all emotions are mixed quickly.”
Three other hostages were given to Nuseirat, in the center of Gaza, and delivered to the Israeli army: Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen. All three were kidnapped while trying to flee a music festival near the border with Gaza, and would have suffered from diseases that allowed them to have priority for the exit.
During the transfer ceremony, the hostages seemed to be thin and pale. They were dressed in khaki uniforms, but none was in military service when they were taken hostage.
In a video published by the Israeli government, Mr. Shem Tov, who was 20 years old when he was removed, may be seen bringing together with his parents and saying to them: “You have no idea what I I dreamed of you. “
In the two ceremonies, masked armed men escorted hostages on the stages and displayed liberation certificates-the transfer of theater which have become typical of the hostage outings of Hamas in this ceasefire, because the militant group aims to demonstrate that he still controls Gaza.
Late Saturday, Hamas published a propaganda video on social networks that seemed designed to instill the fear of hostage safety still alive in Gaza. The video shows that the militant group brought two additional captives to a transfer ceremony on Saturday, where they were forced to watch from a van and begged their own release.
Rights groups And experts in international law say that a hostage video is, by definition, made under stress, and that declarations are generally forced. Israeli officials have described the past videos of Hamas a form of “psychological war”, and experts say that their production can constitute a war crime.
The scenes of transfers themselves on Saturday were more moderate than during some of the more chaotic exchanges more previous.
The sixth hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, 37, was returned to Gaza City in a more private transfer. Israeli Citizen of a Bedouin city of the Southern Negev desert, Mr. Al-Sayed crossed Gaza on his own goalkeeper in April 2015 and was taken hostage by Hamas.
Al Jazeera, the television channel funded by Qatari, broadcast the video of a man who seemed to be Mr. Al-Sayed heading to a vehicle of the Red Cross, and the Israeli army then published images of him Transferred in the hands of Israeli forces in Gaza. Hamas held Mr. Al-Sayed Incommunicado for years before publishing a video of life proof in 2022, showing him lying in a bed with an oxygen mask on his face, apparently in poor health.
His family said in a statement that they had been “moved by Hisham’s return home”, adding: “The long -awaited moment has arrived”.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas has committed to release at least 25 living Israeli hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza had impatiently waited for the return of their loved ones. Among those who were to be released on Saturday 445 men, 23 minors and a woman were all arrested after the attack led by Hamas in October 2023 against southern Israel, according to lists distributed by Palestinian officials. In addition, 151 Palestinians who have been imprisoned for years, some of which have guilty of having participated in deadly attacks against the Israelis, were to be released.
The question of whether the ceasefire extends in a second phase is still uncertain. The two parties were to start discussions on the details of the next step over two weeks ago, but it is not clear if serious negotiations started.
