Hamas To Release Six Living Hostages And Four Killed Detainees
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – A Jewish family in Israel was facing turmoil late Tuesday after Hamas said it would hand over the human remains of four hostages, followed by six living captives on Saturday.
Among the dead are those of the Bibas family – Shiri and her young children Kfir and Ariel, who were aged nine months and four years when Hamas kidnapped them during the October 7, 2023 attack.
The children were the youngest among the hostages held by Hamas, designated as a Palestinian “terrorist organization” by Israel and most of its allies.
Hamas claims they died in Israeli air strikes in November 2023, but Israel hasn’t confirmed the allegations.
The group’s negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the bodies would be released Thursday as part of a controversial ceasefire deal with Israel in Gaza.
In exchange, Israel will free all women and those under the age of 19 arrested since last October and is allowing some rubble-clearing equipment into Gaza through the border with Egypt, officials said.
Additionally, six remaining living hostages slated to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal will be freed on Saturday, Israeli and Hamas officials announced.
SURPRISE MOVE
It was a surprise move reportedly linked to concerns that a ceasefire and captive release deal in the Gaza Strip could collapse after U.S. President Donald J. Trump suggested ending the agreement.
“I’d say they [the hostages] ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday” by Hamas. “And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out,” Trump said last week.
Among those being released Saturday are Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who were seized in 2014 and 2015, respectively, after they crossed into Gaza on their own.
The Israeli government has said both suffered from mental health issues at the time.
Others include hostages abducted from Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, including Omer Shem Tov, 22, Eliya Cohen, 27, and Omer Wenkert, 23, who were taken from the Nova Festival, and 40-year-old Tal Shoam, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, families said.
Al-Hayya cautioned, however, that the releases would be conditioned on Israel living up to its side of the first phase of the deal, which includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian inmates, including many serving life sentences for murder.
FIGHTING STOPS
He also mentioned a cessation of fighting in the Strip and the entry of aid and other equipment into the troubled enclave as conditions for freeing hostages.
Yet the Babis family said it was “in turmoil” over the announcement that several family members to be handed over were dead but added they hadn’t received confirmation from Israel.
“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.”
They added, “We ask the media and the public to respect our privacy and refrain from contacting us about this matter.”
Silberman Bibas, 32 at the time, was kidnapped from her Nir Oz home on October 7 with her young boys.
Husband and father Yarden Bibas was kidnapped separately from their home after he left the safe room, hoping to distract the gunmen and save his family.
He was freed from Gaza on February 1, alive but without his loved ones.
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