Hamas released six more hostages on Saturday as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel, the last living prisoners who will be released under the current truce in Gaza.
In the context of a ceasefire agreement, Hamas pledged to release at least 33 of the nearly 100 captives who remain in Gaza, some of whom are believed to be dead, in return for more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and partial withdrawal Israel. Both sides are going to negotiate terms to extend the truce, but an agreement appears remote.
Two of the captives released on Saturday were in Hamas’ hands for about 10 years. Four others were taken during the Hamas -led attack on October 7, 2023, which caused the Gaza war.
Omer wenkert
Omer Wenkert, 23, was abducted during the October 7 attack, as the Palestinian fighters attacked a Music Festival, the Nova race, held near the Gaza border. The videos and photos from the time of his attack seem to be held back, stripped in his underwear and surrounded by armed men on the back of a truck as he was removed in Gaza.
He was in touch with his family on the morning of the attack and said he was afraid. Relatives later saw videos of his abduction. His grandmother, Tsili Wenkert, survivor of the Holocaust, who said he had been saved by the Soviet army, addressed Russian officials to assist his liberation.
Mr Wenkert managed a restaurant in central Israel and had to launch a restaurant management lesson in college. His father, Shai Wenkert, called for his freedom near Mr Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem for the first anniversary of the attacks under Hamas.
In a speech to a group of other relatives and their supporters, he said: “A whole year that has stopped. I am still the same day.”
Elia Cohen
Eliya Cohen, who was 27 years old when he was occupied, was also at the Nova Music Festival. He took coverage with other festivals when the fighters threw grenades in their shelter and put it on, ordering Mr. Cohen and two other men with them, according to his girlfriend, Ziv Abud of Tel Aviv, one of his few survivors Bunker.
Mrs Abud had gone to the festival with Mr Cohen, her nephew and her girlfriend. Of the four, he was the only one who made it home. Mr Cohen was shot in the leg during the raid, he said, and hid with him under a bunch of dead bodies until he felt that he had taken away from it.
Mr Cohen’s mother, Sigalit Cohen, told The Guardian in December 2023 that she had abandoned her work as an accountant to put pressure on the release of prisoners. Near the first anniversary of the crisis of war and Homer, he wrote in a editorial position in the Israelis: “Have we learned something from that cursed day? Have we taken over to be better?”
Hisham al-Sayed
Hisham Al-Sayed is a member of Israel Bedouin’s Arab minority from Hura. He is one of the two Israeli hostages, along with Hadar Goldin, who was recorded by Hamas fighters in the Gaza film many years before the raids of 7 October.
Mr Al-Sayed entered Gaza in 2015 and never saw until 2022, when Hamas released a video that was supposed to be lying on a bed that looked stunned and wearing oxygen mask. Mr Al-Sayed has schizophrenia, according to his family and had tried to enter Gaza before. Hamas accused Mr Al-Sayed of being an Israeli soldier and was believed to have kept him pushing Israel to release the Palestinian prisoners.
In 2017, human rights investigation concluded that Mr Al-Sayed was not linked to the Israeli army or government. After Hamas captured hundreds of hostages in the attack on October 7, the families of prisoners who had been pressured to release their relatives for years have joined forces with relatives of the younger hostages.
Mr Al-Sayed’s father, Shaban Al-Sayed, said the family is waiting for his son to return with deep anxiety.
“We do not know what condition will return,” he said. “We are waiting for him – and when we see him, we will know how much we have to celebrate.”
Avera Mengistu
Mr Mengistu, now 38 years old, is the largest Israeli hostage in Gaza. In 2014, almost two weeks after the ceasefire ended a 50 -day war between Israel and Hamas, Mr Mengistu was observed in the security camera material walking along the beach before crossing a fence that divides Israel from Gaza.
Born in Ethiopia, Mr Mengistu migrated to Israel with his family when he was 5 years old and lived in the coastal city of Ashkelon, about 10 miles north of Gaza. His older brother told the Israeli media that Mr Mengistu had been deeply influenced by another brother’s death and had serious mental health problems.
Mr Mengistu apparently appeared for the last time in a video released by Hamas in January 2023, although the material could not be verified independently. As with Mr Al-Sayed, Human Rights Watch later evaluated that he was a politician with a history of mental health problems.
Omer shem tov
Omer Shem Tov was 20 when he was abducted with two friends at the Nova Music Festival. His friends – Maya Regev and her brother, Itay Regev – were released during a weekly truce between Israel and Hamas in November 2023.
In December 2023, after their release, the Regevs appeared in a video together wearing t -shirts that brought Mr Shem Tov’s face, begging for his return. “Every day there is a hell,” said Ms Regev of a wheelchair, having undergone surgery for a shooting wound on her leg.
“I have a friend called Omer, and I really miss I really,” Itay said. “I know what’s going on there. And I know how scary it is.”
Mr Shem Tov’s older brother, Amit Shem Tov, expressed his frustration after the end of the last truce. “The end of the cease is the worst thing that could happen because it is seriously delayed by my brother’s release,” he said.
Talse
Tal Showham was 38 when recorded by Kibbutz Be’eri. His wife, Adi Shoham, and their son and daughter, aged 8 and 3, were released on the first ceasefire agreement.
At the beginning of last year, Mr Shoham’s father, Gilad Korngold, was among a group of relatives of hostages who rushed to an Israeli parliament meeting to seek action to the abducted.
“The danger increases every day passing,” Mr Korngold said in an interview afterwards. “Israel and the relevant countries in the region have to sit on the table – without eating or sleeping – and making this terrible situation end.”
On the first anniversary of the attack, Mr Shoham’s family was still waiting. His mother, Nitza Korngold, as well as other Israelis frustrated by the lack of the government’s progress in a hostage -release agreement, boycott the official ceremony and watched an alternative celebration.
“My dear Tal, if you can see or hear me, all of us are missing so much,” he said. “We do everything to bring you and all the hostages at home soon. We won’t give up on you.”
