Six Israeli hostages have been handed over by Hamas on Saturday, while hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are due to be released.
The Gaza ceasefire deal continues to hold, despite tensions rising this week when Hamas initially handed over the body of an unidentified Palestinian woman instead of Israeli mother-of-two Shiri Bibas.
The release of hostages and prisoners on Saturday is the last one scheduled in the ceasefire’s first phase.
Five of the Israeli hostages were handed over in public displays, with the captives ushered out of cars by balaclava-clad men holding rifles. The remaining hostage was released to the Red Cross in private.
Of the hostages released today, two had been in captivity for a decade.
Israel is expected to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners later on Saturday, including a man who has been detained for more than 40 years. However, Hamas claimed the release had been delayed as the detainees had been “assaulted”.
Follow latest: Delay to prisoner release due to ‘assaults’ – Hamas
Who are the freed Israeli hostages?
The first two hostages released on Saturday were Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu.
Mr Shoham, 40, was visiting his wife’s family in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants stormed into the community during the October 7 attacks in 2023.
His wife, two young children and three other relatives were also abducted, but they were freed in an exchange in November 2023.
Mr Mengistu, a 39-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, had been held in Gaza since he entered the territory on his own in 2014.
Watching the moment he was freed on TV, his family broke out in song as he walked free for the first time in more than a decade.
Later on Saturday, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert were handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
Mr Shem Tov, 22, was taken during the October 7 attacks on the Nova music festival.
The computer programmer had shared his live location with his family, who eventually noticed he was headed towards Gaza and contact with him was lost.
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Mr Cohen, 27, was also taken from the Nova festival, alongside his fiancee.
Released hostages have said that he was kept in chains and deprived of food and sunlight during his time in captivity, according to reports.
Mr Wenkert, 23, was taken from Nova. He suffers from colitis and requires special medical care, it has been reported.
Finally, Hisham al Sayed, 28, was handed over in a private ceremony.
The Bedouin-Israeli, from the village of Hura in the Negev desert, has been a captive since he crossed into Gaza in 2015.
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Who are the Palestinian prisoners due to be released?
More than 600 Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released on Saturday.
According to the prisons office, which is run by Hamas, this includes 50 who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, 60 described as having “high” sentences, 47 prisoners from the “Wafa al Ahrar” 2011 prisoner exchange deal who had since been re-arrested, and 445 who were arrested after 7 October attacks.
The “Wafa al-Ahrar” deal was the 2011 prisoner exchange agreement that saw the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners.
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Among the most high-profile Palestinians to be released is Nael Barghouti – the longest-serving prisoner, who has been inside for 43 years.
Also on the list are several journalists, many of whom covered events at al Shifa hospital, and Yousef al Mansi, a Palestinian minister in Gaza.
It had been expected that Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, would be among those being released on Saturday.
However it later emerged that he was not on the list of those being freed.
