Palestinian militants on Saturday freed six Israeli hostages, the last living captives to be released under the first phase of a fragile truce that is also expected to see Palestinian prisoners released.
Freedom for the captives caps an emotional two days in Israel, where the family of another hostage, Shiri Bibas, earlier on Saturday confirmed receipt of her remains.
Bibas and her two young sons had become symbols of the ordeal suffered by Israeli hostages since the Gaza war began.
Palestinian militants seized dozens of captives during their unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered more than 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip.
At a ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza, masked Hamas militants brought onto a stage Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Israeli-Argentine Omer Wenkert, 23.
They waved while holding release certificates before their handover to the Red Cross, who took them away in a convoy after more than 16 months of captivity, an AFP correspondent said.
The military said they later were back home on Israeli soil.
At a similar ceremony earlier Saturday in Rafah, southern Gaza, militants handed over Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, who both appeared dazed.
Shoham was made to address the gathering, flanked by armed and masked fighters dressed all in black.
In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, hundreds who gathered at a site known as “Hostages Square” applauded and some appeared to weep as they watched the releases.
A sixth hostage, thought to be Hisham al-Sayed, 37, was also later handed over to the Red Cross, Israel’s military said.
Sayed, a Bedouin Muslim, and Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, were captured in Gaza around a decade ago after they entered the territory individually on their own accord.
“Our family has endured 10 years and five months of unimaginable suffering,” Mengistu’s family said in a statement.
Relatives of Shoham wept and embraced as they watched his handover, video released by Israel’s government showed.
“We saw that Tal seems well considering the circumstances. An enormous weight is lifted from us,” the family of the Austrian-Israeli dual national said in a statement.
The releases came under the first phase of a ceasefire deal which began on January 19 and is due to expire in early March.
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