Hamas freed two hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners as part of the fragile ceasefire agreement with Israel.
The men were identified as Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39. Video footage showed the two men looking frail and scared as they were taken to a stage in front of a crowd while flanked by masked gunmen. They were handed over to the Red Cross and were on their way to IDF forces.
An additional four hostages – Omer Wenkert, 23; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36; and Eliya Cohen, 27 – were expected to also be released later Saturday.
Two of the hostages — Mengistu and Al-Sayed — are civilians who have been held since entering Gaza on their own more than a decade ago, long before the war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, which prompted military retaliation from Israeli forces.
This comes as the delicate ceasefire deal reached a month ago remains in place despite recent revelations that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not initially returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.
REMAINS OF SHIRI BIBAS, MOM OF TWO KILLED, ALLEGEDLY RETURNED TO ISRAEL FOLLOWING HAMAS’ BROKEN PROMISE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would “pay the full price” for allegedly handing over the body of a Palestinian woman from Gaza instead of the body of the Israeli hostage. The hostage’s sons — Ariel and Kfir Bibas — along with Oded Lifshitz were returned by Hamas on Thursday as expected.
Late Friday, Hamas said it handed over Shiri Bibas’ body to the Red Cross, which confirmed it had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities. Bibas’ family confirmed her identity early Saturday.
TERROR GROUP RESPONDS AFTER FAILING TO RETURN THE BODY OF MURDERED HOSTAGE SHIRI BIBAS
Hamas said it “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.” The terror group said the dead hostages handed over on Thursday had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023 and that the bodies could have been misidentified due to bombardments in the area.
The terror group also killed Ariel and Kfir Bibas “with their bare hands,” according to the Israeli military, which did not offer evidence to support the claim.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari alleged that forensic analysis of the Bibas boys’ bodies showed that Hamas “did not shoot the boys,” but “killed them with their bare hands” and then “committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.” Hagari said Lifshitz was killed by captors inside Gaza.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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