Hamas Frees First 5 Of 6 Israeli Hostages In Latest Exchange
HuffPost
The six hostages being freed Saturday are the last living ones to be released under the ceasefire’s first phase.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas freed the first five of six Israeli hostages due to be released Saturday even as heightened tension between the adversaries clouded the future of the fragile ceasefire deal.
The five included three Israeli men seized while attending the Nova music festival and another abducted while visiting his family in southern Israel when militants stormed across the border in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s nearly 16-month campaign in Gaza.
The fifth man released and the sixth due to be freed later Saturday have been held by Hamas for around a decade since they each entered Gaza on their own.
They were handed over to the Red Cross in two separate ceremonies in Gaza, brought out on stages by masked, armed Hamas fighters in front of hundreds of Palestinians. In the central town of Nuseirat, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen were posed alongside fighters – and a beaming Shem Tov even kissed the militant next to him on the head and blew kisses to the crowd. They were then put in Red Cross vehicles and taken to Israeli troops.
Watching the release, Cohen’s family and friends in Israel chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” and cheered when they saw him for the first time. Shem Tov’s grandmother ululated in joy, shrieking, “Omer, my joy! My life!” as she saw him.
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