Hamas Releases the Last Six Hostages of the Ceasefire First Phase
Fighters from Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades escort Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert before handing him over to the Red Cross in Al Nusairat refugee camp. Photo: EFE/EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
February 22, 2025 Hour: 4:54 pm
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas released on Saturday the last six live hostages from the list of captives included in the first phase of the ceasefire, with which there is only an eighth and final exchange for Palestinian prisoners before the truce faces its continuation or possible end.
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This Saturday, Ethiopian Israeli Abera Mengistu, 38, and Bedouin Hisham al Sayed, 37, returned to Israel after being held captive in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 respectively, along with the abductees from October 7: Eliya Cohen, 27; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Omer Wenkert, 23; and Tal Shoham, 39.
In three batches at different locations in the enclave, Palestinian militants, led by Hamas, allowed the Israelis to leave Gaza with the help of the Red Cross.
In Rafah, southern Gaza, with serious faces, Shoham and Mengistu passed through the stage that the militants set up weekly before boarding the vans that would take them to the Israeli army.
Shortly after, in Nuseirat (central Gaza), Cohen, Wenkert, and Shem Tov were released, the latter smiling and constantly giving a thumbs-up, even kissing the heads of two of his captors on the way out.
The last to meet with the Red Cross was Al Sayed, early in the afternoon, in northern Gaza City. Unlike the other hostages, the Bedouin did not pass through the stage but was released without ceremony in the middle of a street in the capital of the Strip.
“The Israeli citizens welcome the six returnees who came back to Israel today,” a brief statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when it was announced that the six had entered Israeli territory after 505 days in Gaza.
Fuente: EFE
