Hamas frees 6 hostages in Gaza after body of Shiri Bibas returned

JERUSALEM - Hamas freed six hostages from Gaza on Feb 22 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, after

Israel confirmed that a body handed over hours earlier was that of hostage Shiri Bibas

.

Mr Tal Shoham, 40, and Mr Avera Mengistu, 39, were the first two hostages to be handed over to the Red Cross in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Feb 22, after they were led onto a stage by armed Hamas militants.

They were later followed by Mr Eliya Cohen, 27, Mr Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Mr Omer Wenkert, 23, who were handed over to the Red Cross to be transported to Israeli forces. The trio were all seized from the site of the Nova music festival during Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

The sixth person, Mr Hisham al-Sayed, 36, was handed over to the Red Cross later the same day, Israeli media reports said.

The six are the last living hostages from a group of 33 due to be freed in the first stage of the ceasefire deal that took effect on Jan 19.

Four of the hostages – Mr Shoham, Mr Eliya, Mr Omer Shem Tov, and Mr Omer Wenkert – were seized by Hamas gunmen during their attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

Mr Shoham was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri along with his wife and two children, who were freed in a brief truce in November 2023. The three others were taken from the nearby Nova music festival.

Two others, Mr Hisham and Mr Mengistu, have been held by Hamas since they entered Gaza separately under unexplained circumstances around a decade ago.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered in the rain in what has become known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, cheering as they watched the release on a large screen.

Among those watching the release broadcast was Ms Yael Alexander. Her son, a soldier and a dual US-Israeli national, was abducted from a military base near Gaza in the October 2023 attack.

“It’s giving me a lot of hope that our son Edan will be next,” she said.

Further south, more people lined the road near the Gaza border to welcome the convoy carrying the freed captives.

The Hamas-directed releases, which have included public ceremonies in which captives are taken on stage and some made to speak, have faced mounting criticism, including from the United Nations, which denounced the “parading of hostages”.

Hamas rejected the criticism on Feb 22, describing the ceremonies as a solemn show of Palestinian unity.

In return, Israel is expected to release 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal that has largely held.

They will include 445 Gazans rounded up by Israeli forces during the war, as well as dozens of convicts serving lengthy or life terms, according to Hamas.

Shiri Bibas slain

The fragile truce in the war between Israel and Hamas militants had been threatened with derailment by the misidentification of a body released on Feb 20 as that of Ms Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two young sons and her husband in the Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023.

However, late on Feb 21, Hamas handed over another body, which her family said had been confirmed to be hers.

“Last night, our Shiri was returned home,” her family said in a statement, which said she had been identified by Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine.

The Bibas family has been an emblem of the trauma suffered by Israel on that day. The staged handover of their coffins by Hamas as well as the misidentification of Ms Bibas’ remains outraged Israelis. Her husband Yarden, seized and held separately from his family, was freed on Feb 1.

The Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of 10-month-old Kfir and his four-year-old brother Ariel showed both had been killed deliberately by their captors, “in cold blood”.

Israel’s Army Radio, citing the forensic conclusions, said Ms Bibas was likely slain with her children.

Hamas says the Bibas family was killed by an Israeli air strike. A group called the Mujahideen Brigades said it was holding the family, which was confirmed by the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to make Hamas “pay the full price” for failing to return the body, but he refrained from walking away from the

ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Jan 19.

Hamas, which has itself accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire by blocking vital aid supplies into Gaza, nonetheless formally informed Israel of the names of the hostages to be released on Feb 22, in a sign the handover would go ahead.

The ceasefire has brought a pause in the fighting, but prospects of a definitive end to the war remain unclear.

Hamas has been at pains to demonstrate that it remains in control in Gaza despite heavy losses in the war.

The militant group triggered the conflict by its attack on Israeli communities that killed 1,200 and took 251 hostages, according to Israel.

The Israeli campaign has killed at least 48,000 people, the Palestinian health authorities say, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble, leaving some hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid lorries.

Both sides have said they intend to start talks on a second stage, which mediators say aim to agree the return of all remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. REUTERS