Politics Media: All released hostages back in Israel
After 738 days in captivity, all hostages held by the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip have returned to Israel, according to media reports.
13.10.2025, 11:28
SDA
The 13 men had previously been handed over by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Among those released are the German-Israelis Rom Braslavski, Alon Ohel as well as Gali and Ziv Berman.
Meanwhile, Israel's military is not assuming that Hamas will be able to hand over all 28 dead hostages today - and thus within the 72-hour deadline agreed as part of the ceasefire. In return, Israel was supposed to release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire agreement, including those sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to Israeli media, the first seven released prisoners are in "good condition". It was not initially known how the 13 other released prisoners were faring.
Before their release, some hostages had reportedly been able to speak to their relatives on the phone via video. Israeli media published pictures of the conversations, videos of which also appeared on social media.
For the hostages, it was probably the first contact with their families after being held captive for more than two years.
The videos serve as propaganda for the terrorist organization Hamas, which can use them to present itself as humane. In some of the images of the conversations, Hamas members can be seen in the background.
Hamas has also been accused of using previous hostage releases for propaganda purposes.
Today's releases were therefore to take place without a public ceremony and without media representatives. "You are coming home - you are all coming home," said the mother of one hostage in tears, according to the Times of Israel. "There is no more war."
