After 737 days of torturous and harrowing captivity in Gaza, 48 living and dead hostages are finally returning home.
The first batch of seven hostages was released on Monday morning and has been escorted out of Gaza by the IDF. “Seven returning hostages are currently being accompanied by IDF and ISA [Shin Bet security agency] forces on their return to Israel, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday morning (2:19 Eastern time).
The remaining thirteen living hostages were released nearly two hours later, The Times of Israel reported:
Thirteen Israeli hostages released by Hamas are now in the hands of IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, the military says.Hamas handed over the 13 — named as Elkana Bohbot, Avinatan Or, Yosef-Haim Ohana, Evyatar David, Rom Braslavski, Segev Kalfon, Nimrod Cohen, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Matan Zangauker, Bar Kupershtein, David Cunio, and Ariel Cunio — to the Red Cross in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.The hostages will be escorted out of the Strip by Israeli special forces to an army facility near the border community of Re’im for an initial checkup and to meet their families.
The hostages’ families waited at the Re’im reception center near the Gaza border in anticipation of the release. A huge crowd at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square cheered as it followed the return of the remaining hostages.
Under the agreed terms, Hamas was not allowed to stage its hideous propaganda rallies during the hostage release.
In a moving message to the members of the Israel armed forces and their families, the IDF Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, announced the start of Operation “Returning Home.”
“The IDF is now launching Operation “Returning Home” to return our hostages from Hamas captivity. In a few hours we will all be reunited – one people, embraced and united,” Lt. General Eyal Zamir, said Sunday night. “We will rejoice at the sight of our living hostages returning to their families and we will mourn the return of the those who were murdered, among them our heroic soldiers who fell in battle.”
With the first hostages safely home, Air Force One, carrying President Donald Trump, landed in Israel. The plane flew over the cheering crowd at the Hostage Square before landing, media reports say.
The Times of Israel reported:
The Ben Gurion Airport control tower welcomes US President Donald Trump, telling him his visit “carries deep meaning for our people in these times.”“Thank you for your friendship, and for the unbreakable bond between our nations,” the tower continues, in a recording release by Netanyahu’s office. “God bless America, God bless Israel, and the friendship between our peoples.”“Thank you very much” Trump’s pilot replies.
Israel has made extensive arrangements amid grave concerns for the physical and mental condition of the hostages, who endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of their Palestinian captors for two long years. “If the live hostages are stable, they will move from Red Cross custody to IDF custody, then to Camp Re’im, before being transferred [to] the three hospitals: Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital, and Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva,” the Jerusalem Post reported Monday morning. “However, if a live hostage is in immediate medical danger, a helicopter will be sent to rush them to Soroka Medical Center or to Barzilai Medical Center.”
The hostage release comes at a painful price. Israel is releasing over 1900 so-called Palestinian ‘security prisoners,’ including hundreds of convicted terrorists serving life sentences.
“Security forces at Ofer Prison in the West Bank are preparing to release the 250 Palestinian terror convicts set to go free today as Hamas hands over the remaining hostages,” The Times of Israel reported Monday.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY