Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

This is a developing story.

Friday - First 13 Israeli and 10 foreign hostages released

(JTA) - Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages into Egypt on Friday, Nov. 24, a sign that the four-day ceasefire brokered between Israel and the terror group that runs Gaza was holding.

Ten Thai nationals and one Filipino national were also released in a surprise additional deal that Egyptian officials said they had brokered. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners were released from Israel as part of the agreement, and multiple tankers of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government released the names of those released: Yaffa Adar, 85; Chana Peri, 79; Margalit Mozes, 77; Ruth Mundar, 78, Keren Mundar, 54, and Ohad Mundar, 9; Chana Katzir, 76; Adina Moshe, 72; Danielle Aloni, 45, and Emilia Aloni, 5; Doron Katz-Asher, 34, and her children Rav Asher, 4, and Aviv Asher, 2.

They went into Israel after being driven to Egypt by the International Committee of the Red Cross via the Rafah border crossing. They immediately underwent medical and psychological evaluations at Hatzerim Air Base, Israel's health ministry has said. CNN reported that at least two were sent directly to hospitals.

According to reports, at least some of the hostages were not aware that they had family members killed on Oct. 7.

The temporary truce agreed upon earlier last week looked like it could have hit a snag, as the Israeli Defense Forces shelled parts of Gaza into the early hours of Friday morning and shot at Gazans attempting to return to the northern part of the coastal enclave. But Israeli military and Hamas forces held off from fighting at the agreed upon time on Friday morning, as did the Hezbollah terror group on Israel's border with Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Nov. 21, Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire that involved, over the course of four days, the release of around 50 of the over 200 Israelis who have been held in Gaza since Oct. 7. Afterward, Hamas can extend the truce by releasing an additional 10 hostages a day. Along the way, Israel will release three Palestinian prisoners for every released hostage.

It is as of now unclear what happens after the first four days of the truce. As the hostages were en route to Israel, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said "Hamas will pursue its effort to halt the Israeli assault on Gaza" and "complete the prisoner exchange."

President Joe Biden called a press conference to address the hostage release, noting that he was very involved in conversations with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials in the lead-up to Friday. He also called on the Israeli military to work to avoid further Palestinian casualties in Gaza and emphasized his continued push for a two-state solution.

"My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as we can," Biden said.

Saturday - Another 13 hostages released

Hamas released another 13 Israeli hostages on Saturday after delays that resulted from Israel and Hamas accusing each other of bad faith and that put a temporary ceasefire at risk.

The total number of Israeli hostages released since Friday is now 26, more than half of the 50 women, children and elderly captives Hamas pledged to free. Hamas released the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire that began on Friday and is slated to last at least four days. As part of the deal, Israel has also pledged to release a total of 150 Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli prison on security offenses.

The 13 hostages, identified by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, included some whose families have advocated in international media for their release. Many are from Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the communities hardest hit by Hamas' massacre. They are: Hila Rotem Shoshani, 12, and her friend, Emily Hand, 9, who were abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri. Hand is a dual Irish-Israeli citizen whose father, Tom, has written about her plight and called for her release on TV. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was a baby. Hila's mother, Raya, remains in captivity; Shira Weiss, 53, and her daughter, Noga, 18, abducted from Be'eri. Ilan Weiss, Noga's father and Shira's husband, remains missing; Alma Or, 13, and her brother, Noam Or, 17, also abducted from Be'eri, where their mother, Yonat, was killed during the raid. Their father, Dror, remains in captivity; Maya Regev Jirbi, 21, who was injured in a Hamas raid on an outdoor party in which hundreds of young people were killed. Regev's medical status was classified as "complicated" and Israeli TV reported that she would likely be transferred to a hospital by helicopter. Regev's 19-year-old brother remains in captivity. She is the first abductee from the outdoor party to be released; Sharon Avigdor, 53, and her daughter, Noam, 12, who were visiting friends at Kibbutz Be'eri to celebrate the Simchat Torah holiday when the attack occurred; Adi Shoham, 38, and her children, Neve, 8, and Yael, 3, who were visiting family in Kibbutz Be'eri. Adi's mother, Shoshan Haran, 67, a resident of the kibbutz, was also released. Adi and her daughters are dual German-Israeli citizens. Tal Shoham, their father and husband, remains in captivity.

Survivors of the attack on Be'eri crowded around TVs at a Dead Sea hotel where the Israeli government has housed them since Oct. 7, cheering when they recognized friends on the live feed from Egypt.

Upon the delivery of the hostages, Be'eri officials also accused Hamas of bad faith, noting that it had promised to keep families united and noting that Hila Rotem Shoshani's mother remains captive.

The Red Cross picked up the hostages around 11 p.m. local time on Saturday and crossed the border into Egypt just before a midnight deadline that would have triggered the end of the ceasefire. Israeli media and the families of the hostages identified some of those released as they watched video of them get out of ambulances in Egypt. They were transferred to Israeli territory within 30 minutes.

In addition to the freed Israeli captives, Hamas has now released a total of 15 foreign hostages, including four on Saturday, under a separate agreement brokered by the Thai government via Iran.

Sunday - 17 additional hostages released by Hamas to Red Cross

Hamas has released 17 more hostages - 14 Israelis, including one U.S. citizen, and three foreign nationals - to the Red Cross as part of its agreement with Israel to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

In total, the terror group has now released 40 Israeli hostages, nearly all of them women and children, to Israel as part of an agreement that includes a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of some 150 Palestinians in Israeli prison on security offenses. According to the deal, Hamas will release 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for a four-day pause in the fighting, but that truce could extend: Israel will continue the ceasefire for one additional day for every 10 hostages Hamas releases.

Hamas has released a total of 18 foreign hostages, nearly all of them Thai, under a separate agreement reached by the Thai government via Iran.

Sunday's release came after a dispute between Hamas and Israel the previous day nearly scuttled the agreement. Hamas held off on releasing hostages on Saturday, accusing Israel of hindering the delivery of aid to Gaza, which Israel denied. The release took place close to a midnight deadline, following intervention by President Joe Biden and leaders of Qatar and Egypt.

Sunday's release, for the first time, included a younger Israeli man. According to the Israeli publication Ynet, the Israeli hostages released Sunday include:

The third group of hostages were released on Nov. 26.

Abigail Mor Idan, 4, an American-Israeli citizen; Hagar Brodutch and her children Ofri, 10, Yuval 8, and Uriyah, 4; Sisters Dafna and Ela Elyakim, 15 and 8; Chen Almog-Goldstein, 48, and her children Agam,17, Gal, 11, and Tal, 9. Their husband and father, Nadav, was killed in the massacre, as was another child; Aviva Siegel, 62, who immigrated to Israel from South Africa. Her American husband, Keith, is still being held hostage; Alma Avraham, 84; and Roni Krivoi, 25.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the fighting after the ceasefire ends, with the aim of deposing Hamas in Gaza. He visited Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

Israel has vowed to resume the war after the ceasefire, with the goal of eliminating Hamas. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 12,000 people have been killed in the fighting, a number that includes combatants and civilians and doesn't specify casualties from misfired Palestinian rockets.