Hamas releases more hostages in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement
Hamas released two hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile ceasefire deal with Israel.
The people were identified as Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39. The video footage shows the two men looking weak and scared as they are taken to the stage in front of the crowd, with masked gunmen on both sides. They were handed over to the Red Cross and headed to the IDF troops.
Four other hostages – Omer Wenkert, 23; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Hisham al-Sayed, 36; Eliya Cohen, 27, is expected to be released later Saturday, too.
Two of the hostages – Mongestu and Al Seid – are retaliation from civilian Israeli forces since entering Gaza more than a decade ago.
This is because a delicate ceasefire agreement reached a month ago still exists, despite recent reports that the hostage Shiri Bibas’s body did not initially return to Israel as Hamas promised.
After Hamas defaults, the remains of Shiri Bibas, allegedly two murdered mothers, are allegedly returning to Israel
A boy with a weapon, he stood next to a Hamas fighter, standing on Thursday, February 20, 2025, handed over to the Khan Red Cross in the Southern Gaza Strip to the Red Cross. (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas will pay “full price” as the body of a Palestinian woman from Gaza, not the body of an Israeli hostage, is reportedly handed over to a Palestinian woman corpse. The hostage sons Ariel and Kfir Bibas and ODED Lifshitz were returned by Hamas on Thursday.
Later on Friday, Hamas said it handed over Shiri Bibas’ body to the Red Cross, which confirmed that it had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities. Bibass’s family confirmed her identity earlier Saturday.
Terrorist group responds after failing to return to the body of murdered hostage Shiri Bibas
The Red Cross vehicle arrived and collected the coffin containing four bodies handed over by Hamas militants from Khan on the southern Canadian Avenue in Canada on Thursday, February 20, 2025. (AP)
Hamas said, “there is no interest in holding any body.” The dead hostages handed over Thursday were killed by Israeli air strikes in November 2023, and the bodies could be misidentified due to bombing in the area, the terrorist group said.
A poster shows Shiri Bibas was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons in Jerusalem on Friday, February 21, 2023. (AP)
According to the Israeli military, the terrorist group also “killed Ariel and Kefir Bibas with their exposed hands”, which the army provided no evidence to support the claim.
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Daniel Hagari, a descendant, said forensic analysis of the body of Bass boys, showed that Hamas “didn’t shoot the boys” but “killed them with naked hands” and then “performed horrible behavior to cover up. These atrocities.” Hagari said Firshiz was killed by kidnappers in Gaza.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
