Hamas may release six more hostages.

2025-02-20 07:09:20https://svoboda.org/a/hamas-mozhet-osvoboditj-esche-shesteryh-zalozhnikov-/33319217.html

According to a source from the Prime Minister's office, this concerns hostages who were supposed to be released last week as part of the first phase of the deal, which is expected to occur closer to March. All of them are alive.

According to Walla, among them may be Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held captive by Hamas for over ten years.

In exchange for the hostages, Hamas demands Israel's permission to allow convoys and heavy machinery into the Gaza Strip (after inspection by the Israeli side), as well as the release of 47 members of the group who were previously released as part of the deal concerning Gilad Shalit in 2011 and were then rearrested by the Israeli authorities.

Last weekend, the group released three hostages, including Alexander Trufanov, a citizen of Russia and Israel, who had been held captive for nearly 500 days. In exchange, Israel released 369 individuals, including those sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in attacks against Israelis.

Later, Israeli media reported that on Thursday, February 20, Hamas would hand over several bodies of deceased hostages captured during the attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. This involves four or five bodies.

On January 15, Israel and Hamas, with the involvement of mediators, reached an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Under the terms of the deal, in the first phase, which will last 42 days, the Israel Defense Forces will begin withdrawing troops from Gaza, and Hamas will release 33 hostages taken on October 7, 2023. Eight of them are presumed dead, and their bodies will be returned to Israel.
As a result of Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, around 1,200 people were killed, and about 250 were taken hostage. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip, resulting in, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, over 45,000 residents of the sector being killed.