The six included three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another taken while visiting family in southern Israel when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in the 7 October, 2023, attack that triggered Israel’s 16-month bombing campaign in Gaza.
Hamas released six more hostages in exchange for 600 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday in what is to be the last exchange in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The six included three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another taken while visiting family in southern Israel when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in the 7 October 2023 attack that triggered Israel’s 16-month bombing campaign in Gaza.
Two other hostages had been held by Hamas for around a decade after each entered Gaza on their own.
Five of the captives were handed over in staged ceremonies that the Red Cross and Israel have condemned as cruel and disrespectful, escorted by masked, armed Hamas fighters in front of hundreds of Palestinians.
Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen were posed alongside Hamas fighters. A beaming Shem Tov kissed two militants on the head and blew kisses to the crowd.
Earlier on Saturday, two other hostages—Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38—were freed. Arriving in Israel, both were taken to medical centres for examination.
Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, entered Gaza on his own in 2014. His family told Israeli media that he has struggled with mental health issues.
