The German-Israeli soldier Arbel Yehud is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP/dpa
Keystone
Eight hostages released by Islamists in the Gaza Strip are back in Israel after 482 days, according to the Israeli army. Earlier, a live television broadcast showed chaotic scenes during the handover of two German-Israelis and five Thais in the city of Chan Junis.
Keystone-SDA
30.01.2025, 13:00
30.01.2025, 15:15
SDA
Part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Islamist Hamas is also the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. However, Israel has now announced that this will be postponed.
According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the Palestinian prisoners will only be released as soon as the safe release of the Israeli hostages is guaranteed. He had decided this together with Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The ex-hostages were taken to an Israeli military camp in the south of Israel, the army announced. The German-Israelis are to meet their families there. The Thais will be received there by Thai government officials, according to the Israeli army.
Previously, the 20-year-old Israeli soldier Agam Berger had been handed over to Red Cross representatives in Jabaliya in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli information, around 80 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip. Three of them are to be released this Saturday.
Al-Jazeera footage from Chan Junis showed how the German-Israelis Arbel Yehud (29) and Gadi Moses (80) had to walk slowly through a large, densely packed and loudly shouting crowd. Many Palestinians tried to photograph the woman with their cell phones. Masked and armed Islamists accompanied and protected her. One fighter held the hand of the frightened-looking woman. Israeli television commentators spoke of a "Via Dolorosa" in reference to Jesus' Way of the Cross.
The "ceremony" took place next to the destroyed house of Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar, who was killed in October. A huge cheering crowd crowded between the rubble of the city around the armed and masked Islamists and the vehicles with the hostages.
"This is further proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to his office, in view of the "shocking scenes" at the hostage handover.
Netanyahu called on the states that brokered the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure that such scenes are not repeated and that the safety of the hostages is guaranteed.
Israeli President Izchak Herzog spoke of "scenes of abuse and terror". Nevertheless, the return of the eight hostages from captivity moved Herzog to tears.
Israeli soldier handed over first
In Jabaliya in the north of the Gaza Strip, 20-year-old Israeli soldier Agam Berger was handed over to Red Cross representatives first. She had to wave to a crowd on a stage. Her family in Israel watched the ceremony on television and reacted with tears and enthusiastic cheers at the sight of the young woman.
According to official information, all those released were handed over to the Israeli army and initially taken to Israeli territory for a meeting with their parents. She was then flown by helicopter to a clinic. In the "Hostages' Square" in Tel Aviv, numerous people celebrated enthusiastically and waved Israeli flags. The US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, met relatives of the hostages in Tel Aviv.
New agreements after delay in release of German-Israeli woman
Yehud was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz together with her boyfriend on October 7, 2023. The woman's brother, who also lived in the village near the Gaza Strip, was killed during the terrorist attack.
According to Israeli sources, the 29-year-old German-Israeli woman was originally due to be released last Saturday. The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas stipulates that civilians should be released first. Instead, Hamas released four female soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel had therefore initially blocked the agreed return of displaced persons to the north of the Gaza Strip, but allowed it following a new agreement on the release of the German-Israeli woman and two other hostages.
Yehud was held by the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The organization released a video of the young woman this week. It also released a video shortly before the expected release showing Yehud and Moses, who is also from the Nir Oz kibbutz, meeting and hugging. Moses' partner was killed during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023.
Palestinian prisoners were to be released from prisons
The plan was for 110 Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for the three Israeli hostages. More than 30 of them are said to have been sentenced to life imprisonment. According to Israeli media reports, they include Sakaria Subeidi, who was commander of the military arm of the Fatah movement in Jenin in the northern West Bank during the second Palestinian Intifada uprising. Between 2000 and 2005, around 3,500 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 Israelis lost their lives in attacks by Palestinians.
According to the media, Mahmud Atallah, who is serving a life sentence plus 15 years for the murder of a Palestinian woman accused of collaborating with Israel, should also be released. It was initially unclear when the prisoners would be released.
No Palestinian prisoners were to be released for the five Thai hostages. Israeli media reported that they had been released as part of an agreement between Hamas and Thailand.
Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 Israelis hostage in the Gaza Strip during their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack triggered the war in the sealed-off coastal area, where more than 47,400 people have since been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The figure does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisoners
Following the handover of the eight abductees, around 80 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire agreement, which came into force on January 19, provides for 33 hostages to be released within six weeks in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners - seven hostages have already been released over the past two weekends. Hamas recently announced that eight of the 33 hostages were dead. However, the terrorist organization did not specify which hostages were involved.
The fate of a mother and her two small children, who had also been abducted in the Gaza Strip and were supposed to be released in the first phase, is still uncertain.