Hamas to release the remaining Israeli captives from Gaza

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Hamas freed two hostages and was set to release four more from Gaza on Saturday 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.

Tal Shoham, 40 and Avera Mengistu, 39, were handed over to the Red Cross in southern Gaza’s Rafah after they were led onto a stage by armed Hamas militants. Four more were expected to be released in central Gaza soon after.

The six hostages slated for release on Saturday 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 January 19.

Four of the hostages — Shoham, Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 — were seized by Hamas gunmen during their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

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 men in civilian clothes stand on a stage surrounded by men wearing military uniforms and balaclavas holding rifles.

Israeli hostages Tal Shoham (left) and Avera Mengisto are escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Source: AAP / Jehad Alshrafi/AP

Two others — Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and 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.

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 Saturday, describing the ceremonies as a solemn show of Palestinian unity.

UN condemns handover over hostages' bodies as 'appalling' image

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.

An emblem of October 7 trauma

The fragile truce in the war between Israel and Hamas militants had been threatened with derailment by as that of Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two young sons and her husband in the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.

However, late on Friday, 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 misidentification of the remains of Shiri Bibas, as well as the staged handover of their coffins by Hamas outraged Israelis. Her husband Yarden, seized and held separately from his family, was freed on February 1.

The Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas 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 Bibas was likely slain with her children.

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

Fragile ceasefire holds, for now

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 January 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 Saturday 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.

Hamas will return more hostages - but concerns remain image

The militant group triggered the conflict and took 251 hostages, according to Israel — a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Hamas and 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 trucks.

Both sides have said they intend to start talks on a second stage, which mediators say aim to agree the return of around 60 remaining hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

But hopes of a deal have been clouded by disagreements over the future of Gaza, that have been deepened by shock across the region over and develop it as a Riviera-style resort under US control.