Eight hostages from Hamas in the Gaza released – ceasefire with Israel

According to Israeli army, eight of Islamists in the Gaza Strip are back in Israel after 482 days. Previously, chaotic scenes in the handover of two German-Israelis and five Thai countries in the city of Chan Junis were seen in a live television transmission.

Part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Islamist Hamas is also the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. However, Israel announced that it was postponed.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the Palestinian prisoners are released, as soon as a safe release of the Israeli hostages is guaranteed. He decided this together with Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The ex-Geisels were brought to an Israeli military camp in southern Israel, the army said. The German-Israelis should meet their families there. The Thai are received by Thai government officials there, as Israel’s army announced.

Previously, 20-year-old Israeli soldier Agam Berger representatives of the Red Cross had been handed over in Jabalija in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli information, around 80 hostages are held in the Gaza Strip. Three of them should come up this Saturday.

The recordings of Al-Jasira from Chan Junis showed how the German-Israelis Arbel Yehud (29) and Gadi Moses (80) had to run slowly through a large, tightly crowded and loudly screaming crowd. Many Palestinians tried to photograph the woman with her cell phones. Hooded and armed Islamists accompanied and protected them. A fighter held the hand of the frightened woman. Israeli television commentators spoke of a “via dolorosa” based on the Way of the Cross.

The “ceremony” took place in addition to the destroyed house of the Hamas boss Jihia al-Sinwar killed in October. A huge cheering crowd crowded between the city’s ruins around the armed and hooded Islamists and the vehicles with the hostages.

“This is further evidence of the unimaginable cruelty of the terrorist organization Hamas,” said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to his office in the face of the “shocking scenes” at the hostage handover.

Netanyahu therefore called on the states that have conveyed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure that such scenes are not repeated and the security of the hostages is guaranteed.

Israeli President Izchak Herzog spoke of “scenes of abuse and terror”. Nevertheless, the return of the eight hostages from captivity stir to tears, said Herzog.

In Jabalija in the north of the Gaza Strip, 20-year-old Israeli soldier Agam Berger representatives of the Red Cross was first handed over. She had to wave a lot on a stage. Her family in Israel watched the ceremony on TV and reacted with tears and enthusiastic cheers to the sight of the young woman.

According to official information, all released people of the Israeli army were handed over and initially brought to a meeting with their parents in Israeli territory. Then she was flown to a clinic by helicopter. Numerous people celebrated enthusiastically on the “Square of the Geiseln” in Tel Aviv and swiveled Israeli flags. The US special ambassador for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, hit hostages in Tel Aviv.

Yehud was kidnapped on October 7, 2023 with her boyfriend from her house in Kibbutz Nir Oz. The woman’s brother, who also lived in the place near the Gaza Strip, was killed during the terrorist attack.

According to Israeli information, the 29-year-old German-Israel was originally supposed to be released last Saturday. The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas stipulates that civilians should first be released. Instead, the Hamas left four soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel had therefore initially blocked the agreed return of displaced persons to the north of the Gaza Strip, but allowed after a new agreement on the release of the German-Israeli and two other hostages.

Yehud was under the violence of the terrorist organization of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The organization published a video of the young woman this week. She also published a video shortly before the expected release, which showed how Yehud and Moses, who also comes from the Kibbutz Nir Oz, meet and hug. Moses’ partner was killed during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023.

It was planned that 110 Palestinian prisoners will be exchanged for the three Israeli hostages. More than 30 of them are said to have been sentenced to life imprisonment. According to Israeli media reports, Sakaria Subeidi, who was the Commander of the Military Arm of the Military Arm of the Fatah Movement in Dschenin in northern West Bank during the second Palestinian uprising. Around 3,500 Palestinians were killed between 2000 and 2005, more than 1,000 Israelis were killed in attacks by Palestinians.

According to the media, Mahmud Atallah should also come free, who served a lifelong prison sentence plus 15 years for the murder of a Palestinian woman who was accused of collaboration with Israel. It was initially unclear when the prisoners were released.

No Palestinian prisoners should be released for the five Thai hostages. Israeli media reported that they were released as part of an agreement between Hamas and Thailand.

Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups killed around 1200 people on October 7, 2023 in their raid on October 7, 2023 and abducted more than 250 Israelis as hostages into the Gaza Strip. The attack was the trigger of the war in the sealed coastal area, where, according to the health authority controlled by the Hamas, more than 47,400 people have been killed since then. The number does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

After handing over the eight kidnapped, around 80 hostages are recorded in the Gaza Strip. The agreement on a ceasefire, which came into force on January 19, stipulates that in a first phase, 33 hostages in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners will be released within six weeks – seven hostages have already been released over the past two weekends. The Hamas recently announced that eight of the 33 hostages were dead. However, the terrorist organization left open what hostages it is.

The fate of a mother and her two small children, who had also been dragged into the Gaza strips, continues to be uncertain.