Peor Hssam Bush, Massri’s Lobel Mask in Nermah ,
(Reuters) – The Palestinian militant group Hamas returned three Israeli hostages this Saturday, whose skeletal appearance caused shock. Israel also began to release dozens of Palestinians in the last stage of a ceasefire that aims to end the 15-month war in the Gaza Strip.
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both hostage at Kibbutz Be’eri during the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, kidnapped at the New Music Festival, were taken to a Hamas podium by armed men.
The three men seemed thin, weak and pale, and in worse conditions than the 18 hostages that have been previously released.
“He looked like a skeleton, it was horrible to see,” Ohad Ben Ami’s mother -in -law, Michal Cohen, told Channel 13 News while watching the hostage delivery. At the time, the men answered the questions asked by a masked person who had militants armed with automatic shotguns next door.
In another Hamas Strength demonstration, which paraded fighters during previous liberations, dozens of his militants positioned themselves in the center of Gaza as they delivered hostages to the International Red Cross Committee (CIAB).
Continues after advertising
In CIAB cars, they were taken to the Israeli forces in Israel, where they gathered with family members between smiles and tears, and were taken by plane to hospitals. “We miss you so much,” said Or Levy’s mother, Geula, as she hugged her son.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fragility image of the hostages was shocking and would be addressed.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, described the liberation ceremony as cynical and cruel. “This is how a crime against humanity seems like,” he said.
Continues after advertising
The hostage families forum said the three hostage scene referred to the images of survivors of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. “We have to take all the hostages out of hell,” he said.
In exchange for liberation from hostages, Israel is releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people, as well as 111 detainees in Gaza during the war.
When the cars arrived in Gaza, they were greeted by enthusiastic crowds, who embraced the detained detainees when they landed, some of them crying with joy and pulling the bracelets issued by the prison that were on their fists.
Continues after advertising
Among the men in Ramallah, West Bank was Eyad Abu Shkaidem, sentenced to 18 life sentences in Israel for planning suicide attacks on revenge for the murders of Hamas leaders in Israel in 2004.
“Today I was reborn,” Shkaidem told reporters when he arrived at Ramallah, while the crowd applauded.
The medical service of the Palestinian Red Crescent said that six of the 42 released in the West Bank were weakened and were taken to hospitals. Some prisoners complained of abuse. “The occupation humiliated us for over a year,” said Shkaidem.
