February 22, 2025
Who are the six hostages Hamas is set to release?
Israel is preparing to receive six more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.
The six Israelis are due to be handed over at around 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Saturday.
They are the last living hostages from a group of 33 to be released as part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal agreed last month.
Four of the hostages — Eliya Cohen, 27, Tal Shoham, 40, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 — were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants during the terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas is also expected to release Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Avera Mengistu, 39, who have been held captive since crossing into Gaza on their own around a decade ago.
In return, Israel is to free 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails.
Hamas has also said it will release the bodies of four more hostages next week.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsye
February 22, 2025
Kibbutz Nir Oz says body of Shiri Bibas identified
The body handed over by Hamas on Friday has been identified as belonging to Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, the Nir Oz kibbutz said in a statement.
The statement said she was killed in Gaza after being kidnapped with her two children during the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.
Nir Oz lies close to the Gaza Strip, and many of its residents were killed or taken hostage during the Hamas massacre.
“Kibbutz Nir Oz announces with deep pain and sorrow the murder of Shiri Bibas, of blessed memory, who was abducted from her home on October 7 and killed in captivity in Gaza,” the statement read.
“She will be laid to rest in Israel alongside with her two young sons,” it added.
The statement comes after Hamas said it handed over the body of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.
On Thursday, Hamas handed over the remains of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel, along with the 83-year-old journalist Oded Lifshitz.
Hamas also claimed to have handed over Shiri Bibas’ remains then, but Israel later identified that body as belonging to an unknown Palestinian woman from Gaza. The Israeli military called this a “very serious violation” of the Gaza ceasefire deal currently in place.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsqF
Welcome to DW’s coverage
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This blog brings you the latest from the conflict in Gaza and the wider Middle East region.
On Saturday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas is due to release six Israeli hostages held in Gaza since its terror attacks on October 7, 2023.
There are hopes that the hostages’ release will save a flimsy ceasefire that was on the verge of collapse on Friday, when the Israeli military said that one of the four bodies returned from Gaza is not Shiri Bibas, as Hamas militants claimed.
Hamas suggested that a mix-up of the remains may have occurred, and later claimed to have handed over Bibas’ remains to the Red Cross. Israel was looking into the claims.
Also on Saturday, the World Health Organization is due to resume a polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, this time targeting over half a million children.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qsq9
#Kibbutz #body #Shiri #Bibas #identified
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