Skip next section Hamas hands over first two hostages to Red Cross
02/22/2025February 22, 2025
Hamas hands over first two hostages to Red Cross
has released two Israeli hostages in Rafah, southern Gaza.
A live TV broadcast showed Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39, being handed over to representatives from the Red Cross.
The other four hostages to be released Saturday are expected to be handed over in Nuseirat, central .
Earlier, footage showed masked Hamas militants gathering at the two locations.
Shoham was taken from the community of Kibbutz Beeri during the Hamas-led terror attack on Israel in October 2023.
Mengistu had been held in Gaza .
https://p.dw.com/p/4qtBn
Skip next section Family of Shiri Bibas ‘in pain and heartbroken’ after body identified
02/22/2025February 22, 2025
Family of Shiri Bibas ‘in pain and heartbroken’ after body identified
The family of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has issued a statement saying that experts at Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine have positively identified her body.
“This morning we received the news we feared the most. Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family to rest,” it said.
“Despite our fears about their fate, we continued to hope that we would get to embrace them, and now we are in pain and heartbroken.”
Shiri Bibas was kidnapped along with her two young children in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
On Thursday, Hamas handed over four bodies It said they were that of Shiri Bibas, her children and an elderly hostage. But Israeli authorities later said the fourth body did not belong to Shiri Bibas.
Hamas handed over new remains on Friday, and they were confirmed as belonging to Bibas early Saturday.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsxc
Skip next section Who are the six hostages Hamas is set to release?
02/22/2025February 22, 2025
Who are the six hostages Hamas is set to release?
is preparing to receive six more hostages held by Hamas in in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.
The six Israelis are due to be handed over at around 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Saturday.
They are the last living hostages from a group of 33 to be released as part of the first phase of a .
Four of the hostages — Eliya Cohen, 27, Tal Shoham, 40, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 — were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants during the terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas is also expected to release Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Avera Mengistu, 39, .
In return, Israel is to free 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails.
Hamas has also said it will release the bodies of four more hostages next week.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsye
Skip next section Kibbutz Nir Oz says body of Shiri Bibas identified
02/22/2025February 22, 2025
Kibbutz Nir Oz says body of Shiri Bibas identified
The body handed over by Hamas on Friday has been identified as belonging to Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, the Nir Oz kibbutz said in a statement.
The statement said she was killed in Gaza after being kidnapped with her two children during the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.
Nir Oz lies close to the Gaza Strip, and many of its residents were killed or taken hostage during the Hamas massacre.
“Kibbutz Nir Oz announces with deep pain and sorrow the murder of Shiri Bibas, of blessed memory, who was abducted from her home on October 7 and killed in captivity in Gaza,” the statement read.
“She will be laid to rest in alongside with her two young sons,” it added.
The statement comes after Hamas said it handed over the body of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.
On Thursday, Hamas handed over the remains of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel, along with the 83-year-old journalist Oded Lifshitz.
Hamas also claimed to have handed over Shiri Bibas’ remains then, but Israel later identified that body as belonging to an unknown Palestinian woman from Gaza. The Israeli military called this a “very serious violation” of the Gaza ceasefire deal currently in place.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsqF
Skip next section Welcome to DW’s coverage02/22/2025February 22, 2025
Welcome to DW’s coverage
This blog brings you the latest from the conflict in and the wider Middle East region.
On Saturday, the Palestinian militant group is due to release six Israeli hostages held in Gaza since its terror attacks on October 7, 2023.
There are hopes that the hostages’ release will save a flimsy ceasefire that was on the verge of collapse on Friday, when the Israeli military said that one of the four bodies returned from Gaza is not Shiri Bibas, as Hamas militants claimed.
Hamas suggested that a mix-up of the remains may have occurred, and later claimed to have handed over Bibas’ remains to the Red Cross. Israel was looking into the claims.
Also on Saturday, the World Health Organization is due to resume a polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, this time targeting over half a million children.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsq9
The post Middle East: Hamas releases first 2 hostages in latest swap appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
