Freed hostage Omer Shem Tov sent a message in which he noted: “Everything is fine now! Thank you, dear people of Israel and all the soldiers! I want a hamburger.”
A freed Israeli hostage kissed his captors on the head and blew kisses to the crowd as he and five others were freed yesterday.
On the way to the hospital, Omer Shem Tov sent the following message: “Everything is fine now! Thank you, dear people of Israel and all the soldiers! I want a hamburger.”
Hamas released six hostages in its latest exchange with Israel as mounting tensions between the sides cast doubt on their fragile ceasefire agreement.
Among the six released were three Israelis who were kidnapped at the Nova music festival, as well as another who was abducted while visiting his family in southern Israel.
They were captured when militants crossed the border on October 7, marking the start of Israel's 16-month military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Two of the hostages had been in Hamas custody for about a decade after each crossed into Gaza without permission.
The five captives were handed over in an orchestrated ceremony, with armed and camouflaged Hamas fighters leading them out in front of hundreds of Palestinians and then loading them into Red Cross vehicles.
The six hostages are the last survivors freed under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
In Nuseirat, in central Gaza, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen were forced to pose next to Hamas fighters on stage.
Hamas has been heavily criticised for its actions, with Israel, the UN and the Red Cross saying they were cruel and did not respect the dignity of the hostages.
Watching the release, Cohen's family and friends in Israel chanted “Eliya, Eliya, Eliya!” and cheered when they saw him for the first time. Grandmother Shem Tov exclaimed with joy when she saw him and cried, “Omer, my joy, my life.”
The Israeli military said the last hostage, Hisham al-Said, 37, was freed later on Saturday.
The new releases will be followed by the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Tensions have risen in recent days when Hamas initially handed over the wrong body, that of Shiri Bibas, the Israeli mother of two boys kidnapped by the militants.
The remains, which Hamas handed over along with her sons' bodies on Thursday, were later identified as those of an unidentified Palestinian woman. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to avenge the “cruel and malicious violation,” while Hamas said it was a mistake.
On Friday evening, the Palestinian Mujahideen Brigades, a small paramilitary group believed to have held Bibas and her sons, handed over a second body. Bibas' family said Israeli forensic authorities had confirmed the remains were hers.
Sourse: www.mirror.co.uk
