Hostages being transferred from Hamas to Red Cross
The families of hostages held in Gaza said they were anxious ahead of the scheduled release of a group from Hamas captivity in Gaza. 13 Israelis, 9 of them children and one Russian national are named on a list provided to Egypt by Hamas. The terror group said the Russian's release was a gesture to Putin after his support in the war.
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Earlier, an ICRC official in Gaza said he could not say with confidence that hostages would be released on Sunday. Pascal Hundt, Senior Crisis Manager at the International Committee of the Red Cross said that despite concerns, the Red Cross teams were on standby. The Red Cross later issued a statement saying there was no indication that the release would not take place.
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Hostages being driven out of Gaza by the Red Cross on Saturday
(Photo: Said Khatib / AFP)
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that he was hopeful that an American national would be among those freed. We have reason to believe that one of those Americans will be released today," Sullivan told NBC's "Meet the Press".
Although he did not mention her by name, there was much hope that 4-year-old Abigail Edan would be among the hostages let out of captivity by Hamas after 51 days in Gaza. Both her parents, Roy - a Ynet photographer and Smadar were murdered in the October 7 massacre.
The director of the Safra Children's Hospital at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, where 12 of the hostages who were released Saturday night were taken, reported on Sunday morning that "the days of captivity are evident on them, but none of them will need medical intervention."
"We will continue to support them physically and mentally. The intensity of the emotion and the sense of mission that accompanied me and all the staff members is great. Despite the joy, we join all the people of Israel and wish for the return of all the hostages," he said.
The 13th hostage, Maya Regev, 21, is listed in moderate condition at Soroka Hospital. Regev, the first of the hostages from the music festival in Re'im to be released from captivity in Gaza, will require a series of surgeries on a badly broken leg. "She will need further surgical treatment and we expect her to recover fully. We support her and her family and wish for the return of all the hostages," said Dr. Shlomi Kodesh, director of Soroka Hospital, on Sunday morning.
Daniel Aloni and her six-year-old daughter Emilia, who were freed on Friday, were released from the Schneider hospital on Sunday and returned home to Yavneh. Many of the city's residents came out to greet them waving Israeli flags and cheering.
Also on Sunday morning, Hamas provided to Israel a list of 13 hostages to be released later in the day. According to official Israeli sources, this time the terrorist organization did not separate family members as it did in the second group. Most of those set to be released come from one community and there is an expectation that the current list will also include American citizens.
Evacuees from Kibbutz Be'eri watch as the hostages leave GAza
(Video: Gil Yohanan)
The second group of Israeli hostages arrived on Israeli soil shortly after midnight on Saturday night. After they undergo an initial assessment of their medical condition they will be transferred by helicopter to Israeli hospitals.
The thirteen Israeli hostages and four foreign hostages were handed over to the Red Cross just after 11 p.m. on Saturday. They arrived at the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, and were then transferred to Israel. Hamas had initially said that it would release seven foreign nationals. Most of the Israelis released in the second group on Saturday were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri. Some 196 hostages still remain in the hands of the terrorists.
These are the hostages that have been released:
Sharon and Noam Avigdori
Sharon Avigdori, 52 , from Hod Hasharon, was kidnapped with her daughter Noam, 12. They came for a weekend to Be'eri to spend time with Sharon's family, and were kidnapped with seven other members. Several members of the family, including Avshalom Haran - Sharon's brother - were murdered.
Sharon's husband, Chen Avigdori, was one of the leaders of the families' struggle to return the hostages. On Friday, after the release of the first 13 hostages, he wrote: "The photos, and especially the reactions to them, filled me with hope. There is a plan. It works. And now - more and more and more. Every citizen who leaves there on his feet is a victory. A victory for all of us. For a people Israel. Of the State of Israel. Therefore - we must not stop. Come to the rally on Saturday night because surely together we will win."
Noam and Alma Or
Noam Or, 16, and his sister Alma, 13, were also released - but their father Dror remains in the hands of the terrorists. Their mother was murdered in the massacre in Be'eri on October 7. Their brother Yehli, 18, was saved from the inferno because he was in the north at the time, where he is in national service. Liam Or, 18, Noam and Alma's cousin, was also kidnapped, and is still in captivity.
Hila Rotem
Hila Rotem was kidnapped from their safe room in Kibbutz Be'eri with her mother, Raya, and her friend Emily Hand, 9. Her father, Rami, said that in a conversation with Raya she asked him: "Don't tell Hila that there are terrorists here, tell her that there is a missile attack." Then the mother wrote to her brother: "We are being kidnapped."
Rami almost lost hope after news was published that Emily Hand had been murdered, but then he was informed that Emily and his daughter had been kidnapped to Gaza alive. After 50 days in Hamas captivity, Hila will celebrate her 14th birthday in two days in Israel. She was released without her mother, however.
Emily Hand
The CNN interview of Emily Hand's father was one of the most heartbreaking moments of the war. More than a month ago, Thomas Hand recounted the moment he was told his daughter's body had been found. "They said: 'We found Emily, she is dead,' and I simply said: 'Yes, yes,' and I smiled. Because this is the best news of the possibilities I knew. Because what is being done to people in Gaza is worse than death," he said at the time.
But a few days later, Hand was informed that it was a misidentification. Today, a week after Emily celebrated her 9th birthday in Hamas captivity, she was released alive together with her friend Hila Rotem - at whose house she stayed on the morning of October 7.
Emily's mothe died of breast cancer when Emily was two and a half years old. Thomas' ex-wife and mother of his two eldest children - who later raised Emily - was murdered in the massacre on 7 October.
Maya Regev
Maya Regev, 21, from Herzliya, is the first of the hostages from the music festival in Re'im to be released from captivity in Gaza. She was kidnapped together with her brother Itay from the Nova festival, a party that ended in the biggest massacre in Israel's history, where more than 350 people were murdered. Maya's last conversation before she was kidnapped was with her father. "She told him, 'I'm being shot at, I'm being shot at,' and then she added: 'I was shot at. I'm dead,'" said the mother.
Noga and Shiri Weiss
Noga Weiss, 18, and her mother, Shiri, were kidnapped from their home in Be'eri. After 50 days they were released, but father Ilan - a member of the kibbutz's emergency team who left the house at 7:15 a.m. on October 7 - is still listed as missing.
When the terrorists entered the house, Noga went under the bed in the safe room. The door was open, and the terrorists entered and kidnapped Shiri, when her daughter who witnessed this updated her about the horror in the family WhatsApp group. After Shiri was kidnapped, the terrorists burned the house, and Noga escaped through a window and remained hiding nearby. At 11:30 a.m. she wrote that a terrorist was approaching her, and since then contact with her had been lost. Now she and her daughter are back in Israel, but the father's fate is still unknown.
Adi, Yahal and Neve Shoham, and Shoshan Haran
Shoshan Haran, 67, from Be'eri, was a prisoner of Hamas for 50 days. Today she was finally released, along with five other family members - her daughter Adi Shoham, 38; her grandchildren Yahel, 3, and Neve, 8; her sister-in-law Sharon Avigdori; and Sharon's daughter, Noam. Tal, Adi's husband and Yahal and Neve's father, is still in captivity.
It is a happy day for the family, but Shoshan Haran's tragedy is unbearable - her husband Avshalom was murdered, as well as her sister Lilach Kipnis and her brother-in-law Eviyatar.
Yahel was one of the symbols of the struggle for the release of the hostages, when her picture appeared on the cover of Yedioth Ahronoth's weekend magazine. Editor Aviv Havron wrote: "My name is Aviv, the editor of this supplement. Always behind the scenes. But today I am expropriating the front page. This is Yahel, 3, my niece. Now in Gaza with more than 200 kidnapped Israelis. Bring her and them back. And we will win."
The transfer comes hours after it was supposed to take place. Hamas had announced in an official statement earlier on Saturday that it would postpone the release of the hostages, claiming that Israel had violated the conditions of the cease-fire agreement.
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An International Committee for the Red Cross vehicle carrying released hostages heads for the Rafah Crossing
(Photo: Reuters)
Five hours after the return of the second batch of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza was supposed to begin on Saturday afternoon, Egypt announced that the 13 hostages would indeed leave Gaza on Saturday night.
Shortly after 9 p.m., Hamas announced that it would go through with the exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners after the "efforts of Egypt and Qatar, who throughout the day tried to ensure the continuation of the temporary truce."
Qatar confirmed after the announcement that eight children and five women being held hostage by Hamas will be released. Seven citizens of foreign countries who were taken hostage on October 7 are also expected to be released.
US President Joe Biden called Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Saturday night to express his appreciation for Qatar's role in helping facilitate a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel. For his part, Al Thani stressed the need to reduce any further escalation, stop bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and find ways to increase the flow of aid into the enclave, a statement from the Emir's Diwan said. Spokesperson Adrienne Watson for the White House National Security Council said that following the call at 1:30 p.m. EST, the White House learned from the Qataris that the hostage agreement was back on and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was moving to collect the hostages. Biden was briefed throughout Saturday morning and on the latest of the hostage deal implementation, Watson said.
An Israeli official, meanwhile, had announced that if the hostages were not returned by midnight, the Israel Defense Forces will restart its ground operations in Gaza.
Specifically, the terror organization claimed that Israel had not allowed enough aid trucks into Gaza and had failed to meet "the agreed-upon standards for releasing prisoners."
Israel committed to allow 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks in each day. Each truck must be inspected before it crosses into Gaza to ensure that it is not carrying contraband for Hamas, and then it must wait its turn to pass through Egypt's Rafah Crossing, which is a small crossing. By Saturday afternoon, however, 70 trucks had passed through, with the rest lined up to make their way into Gaza. In addition, Hams demanded that some of those trucks reach northern Gaza. Israel has said 50 trucks with food, water, shelter equipment and medical supplies had deployed to northern Gaza under United Nations supervision, the first significant aid delivery there since the start of the war.
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Gazans take advantage of the temporary cease-fire in Nusirat in the Gaza Strip,
(Photo: AP / Adel Hana)
Meanwhile, Hamas has claimed that as part of the agreement, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners would be released. Israel says there was no agreement, just a promise to make an effort in this area. At the same time, Israel had complained that Hamas did not release the children that it had promised to in the first group and Hamas responded that they also made no such promise, just agreed to make an effort.
The announcement by Egypt and Qatar that the impasse had been overcome came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted a situation assessment with security officials on the subject "with all security elements in order to verify that the second phase is proceeding as planned."
In Tel Aviv, thousands gathered on Saturday night in Hostage Square in the plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to call for the return of all the hostages. Tens of thousands of Israelis participated in such rallies throughout the country.
First published: 21:42, 11.25.23