Hamas releases 6 more Israeli hostages as fragile Gaza ceasefire deal holds on

Of the six hostages freed, Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were kidnapped by Hamas from the site of the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the group's October 7, 2023 attack.

In Short

• Of 6 hostages freed, 3 were kidnapped during Hamas's Oct 7, 2023 attack
• Israel to release 620 Palestinian prisoners today as part of ceasefire deal
• Hamas to release 4 bodies of hostages next week

Palestinian terror group Hamas on Saturday released six more Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire deal reached to pause the 16-month Gaza war as heightened tension casted a cloud over the truce agreement's future.

Of the six hostages freed, Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were kidnapped by Hamas from the site of the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the group's October 7, 2023 attack. They were handed over to the Red Cross to be transported to Israeli forces from central Gaza's Nuseirat.

Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39, who were held by Hamas for around a decade after they entered Gaza on their own, were also released by the group in southern Gaza's Rafah.

A sixth hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was also freed by Hamas in Gaza City. His family earlier told Israeli media that Al-Sayed was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The six men are the last surviving captives from a group of 33 freed in the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal that came into effect on January 19. Around 60 more hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, are still in Gaza.

The three Israeli hostages - Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen - posed alongside Hamas fighters in fake Army uniforms on the stage in Nuseirat. A smiling Shem Tov kissed two Hamas terrorists next to him on the head and blew kisses to the crowd.

The other two hostages - Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu - were taken to medical centres for examination after being freed from Rafah.

Shoham, who also holds Austrian citizenship, was visiting his family in Kibbutz Be'eri, when Hamas terrorists launched an attack on October 7, 2023. Shoham's wife, his two children and three other relatives, were kidnapped along with him during the assault and were later released as part of a short-lived November 2023 ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, had been held in Gaza since entering on his own in 2014.

The development came after Hamas confirmed that the body handed over to Israel on Friday was confirmed to be that of hostage Shiri Bibas, her family said today. This came amid widespread outrage in Israel after the body, which it claimed to be that of Bibas, turned out to be someone else.

The 32-year-old mother of two had come to symbolise the ordeal of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023 offensive.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge for "a cruel and malicious violation", while Hamas suggested it had been a mistake.

ISRAEL TO RELEASE 620 PALESTINIAN PRISONERS LATER TODAY

Later today, Israel is set to release 620 Palestinian prisoners in response to the ceasefire deal. They include 151 who were serving life or other sentences, around 100 of whom will be deported to other countries, according to the Palestinian prisoners media office.

They also include 445 men as well as 18 children between the ages of 15 and 17, five aged between 18-19, and a woman, all of whom were seized by Israeli troops in Gaza during the current war, according to the media office.

Hamas has said it will also release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase of the ceasefire.

The ceasefire deal has paused the 16-month-war, but is nearing the end of its first phase. Negotiations over a second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal, are likely to be even more difficult.

Hamas triggered the current war when it launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Israel's brutal response to Hamas's attack has claimed at least 48,000 lives and has reduced nearly the whole of Gaza to rubble, with thousands of residents displaced, and forcing them to live in makeshift shelters and being dependent on aid trucks.

(with inputs from agencies)