Hamas releasing final living hostages due to be freed under first phase of Gaza ceasefire

Hamas is in the process of releasing six Israeli hostages in Gaza – the final living captives whom the warring sides agreed would be released when a ceasefire began last month.

The first two were released in the southern Gaza city of Rafah Saturday morning. They were Tal Shoham, 40, who was kidnapped from kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, and Avera Mengistu, 38, an Israeli from Ashkelon who crossed into Gaza in 2014.

Shoham was one of four of the six set for release who were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants on October 7. Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were all taken from the Nova music festival, and Shoham was taken from the kibbutz along with his two children, wife, and mother-in-law, all of whom were released in November 2023.

The other hostage to be released Saturday, Hisham al-Sayed, 37, an Arab-Israeli from a Bedouin community in southern Israel, walked into Gaza in 2015. Both he and Mengistu reportedly have serious mental health conditions.

Hamas on Friday said that it expects Israel to release 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange. Of those, 50 had been sentenced to life imprisonment and another 60 are serving long sentences, while 445 were detained in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and held without charge.

The six to be released on Saturday are the last living hostages whom Israel and Hamas agreed to exchange when indirect talks in Qatar last month culminated in a ceasefire agreement.

Just before being handed over to the Red Cross in Rafah, Shoham and Mengistu were paraded on stage, flanked by armed and masked militants. They were handed documents, and Shoham was forced to address the crowd.

The remains of another hostage, Shiri Bibas, arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday night.

Bibas’ remains had been expected to be among those of four hostages returned by Hamas on Thursday, alongside her sons, Kfir and Ariel, and another captive, Oded Lifshitz.

However, while forensic tests by Israeli authorities confirmed that the remains included those of the two boys and Lifshitz, the fourth body was not that of Shiri Bibas – and nor did it match that of any other Israeli hostage, prompting outrage and condemnation.

A convoy carrying Bibas’ remains, which Hamas had turned over to the Red Cross, arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday night.

“Last night, our Shiri was brought home. After the identification process at the Institute for Forensic Medicine, we received the news this morning that we had feared: our Shiri was murdered in captivity,” said a statement from her family provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Saturday.

After Saturday’s releases, Hamas and its allies will continue to hold 63 Israeli hostages in Gaza. At least 32 of those are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli government – one of whom, the soldier Hadar Goldin, has been held since 2014.

If another four hostage bodies are released next week as planned, the handover process for the first phase of the deal will be complete.

Israel and Hamas are holding indirect negotiations to extend the ceasefire. Those talks began more than two weeks late.