The terrorist group Hamas will release six hostages on Saturday as part of the hostages-for-terrorists swap, Israeli officials confirm.
The hostages to be freed have been identified as Tal Shoham (39), Avera Mengistu (38), Hisham al-Sayed (37), Eliya Cohen (27), Omer Wenkert (23) and Omer Shem-Tov (22).
Ethiopian-Israeli Mengistu and Arab-Israeli al-Sayed have been in Hamas captivity since 2014 and 2015, respectively. The Gaza-based terrorists kidnapped the other four hostages on October 7, 2023.
“The families of Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed announce that they have been informed by Israeli authorities that their loved ones are slated to be released by Hamas on Saturday,” The Times of Israel reported. “Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been captive in Gaza for over a decade, after entering the Strip of their own accord. All the others were abducted on October 7, 2023.”
The terrorist group will also return the bodies of four Israeli hostages (murdered by terrorists since the October 7 attack), Hamas’ Gaza-based deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya said in a video message aired Tuesday.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Tuesday Hamas will release six hostages on Saturday after the terror group said it will also transfer the bodies of four slain hostages from Gaza to Israel on Thursday.Hamas is still holding six living hostages who are supposed to be released in the first phase. Their families have now been informed they will be released on Saturday, KAN reported.Families of the kidnapped were informed of the release of the six living hostages on Saturday. (…)Later on Tuesday, an Israeli official noted that as part of the framework of the deal, Israel was committed to allowing caravans and heavy engineering equipment into Gaza after following inspection.The source added that subject to Hamas’s compliance with the deal, Israel would begin to allow the entrance of such tools in a gradual and controlled manner.
The senior Hamas terrorist, al-Hayya, claimed that bodies to be released this week would include those of the Bibas family: Shiri and her two young children, Kfir (9-month-old) and Ariel (4-yearold), who were kidnapped by the terrorists from their home on October 7, 2023.
The children’s father, Yarden, was released by Hamas two weeks ago.
The Israeli government did not confirm the deaths of the Bibas children and their mother. “Israel has not confirmed their deaths, and the prime minister’s office urged the public not to distribute ‘photos, names and rumors,'” the Associated Press noted.
The Bibas family is refusing to take the Hamas terrorist at his word and continues hoping against hope for the safe return of their loved ones after 500 long days of captivity, the news website YNET reported:
The Bibas family announced in a statement on Tuesday evening that they were “shaken” to hear the Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya say that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas would be among the four bodies of killed hostages that will be handed over on Thursday.The family stressed in the statement that while they are aware of the reports that their loved ones are dead, they have not received an official confirmation on the matter from Israeli authorities.“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family said in a statement released by theHostages and Missing Families Forum.
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