Rafah: Palestinian territories: Palestinian activists released two Israeli hostages on Saturday, among the last live captives eligible for liberation under the first phase of a fragile truce which should also see liberated Palestinian prisoners.
Freedom for captives highlights two emotional days in Israel, where the family of another hostage, Shiri Bibas, earlier on Saturday, confirmed the reception of his remains.
The activists escorted Tal Shoham and Averu Mengistu on a stage in Rafah, in the south of Gaza. Shoham was made to address the rally, flanked by armed and masked fighters dressed in black, before the two men were given to the Red Cross which then removed them in a convoy. Israeli security forces have taken care of men and returned them to Israeli territory, the army said.
In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, hundreds gathered on a site known as “Hotages Square” reacted with applause, some seeming to cry, while they were watching a program of communication. Four other hostages must be released on Saturday during a separate ceremony in the center of Gaza.
Israeli campaign group The removal forum and missing families had published the names of the six Israelis to be released. The list included Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert and Hisham Al-Sayed as well as Mengistu and Shoham.
The hostages were released as part of the first phase of a cease-fire contract which began on January 19 and is expected to expire in early March. A source from Hamas told AFP that the group also planned to publish four hostages from Nuseirat de Central Gaza later in the day.
The plea group of the Palestinian prisoner club said that Israel would release 602 detainees on Saturday as part of the exchange. A spokesperson for the NGO said most of the gasans were arrested after the start of the war. She added that some of the prisoners would be expelled outside of Israel and the Palestinian territories after their release. Those who should be expelled served heavy sentences.
The ceasefire has so far seen 21 living Israeli hostages released from Gaza in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons. The release of Saturday from the hostages Living followed the first transfer Thursday of the hostage bodies.
Hamas had said that the remains of Shiri Bibas were among the four bodies returned on Thursday, but Israeli analysis concluded that they were not in fact its own, causing shattering and anger. Hamas then admitted “the possibility of an error or a confusion of bodies”, which it attributed to the Israeli bombing of the region.
