Israelis held hostage in Gaza - part 4

[StillHELDhostage4]

New thread.

Went to post on thread 3 and it's full.

Sad 4th thread and hostages still held by Hamas and others.

I was responding to your assertion that all the hostages today had been given an hour glass.

It might not matter to you whether it was one of them or all three, but for the sake of accuracy, the Reuters news report said one.

I am not sure why it would have been Iair Horn who had to hold the hour glass rather than one of the others. Does anyone know?

Welcome home Sasha, Yair and Sagui 💛

Welcome home :) have watched the footage of reunion this morning and it's so joyful.

Forever in our thoughts and prayers.

beautiful innocent boys and their lovely mum 🇮🇱🎗️❤

The Times is carrying an article saying four bodies will be released Thursday and another four the following week.

I hope the debacle of being filmed and a barrage of pointed phones doesn't happen. That the families are given some chance of dignity in receiving back their loved ones.

Amen

Small mercies indeed, but at least that means that the remains of all 8 of the Phase 1 hostages who are no longer living will be returned. I was concerned that amidst all the chaos Hamas might have lost track of the locations of some of the dead hostages, meaning that some families would never be able to bury their relatives and have that certainty as to their fate.

Poor children and their mother. Awful.

Is it only bodies of deceased hostages now to be returned? Is there any news on any living hostages?

We are only in Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal.

In Phase 1, the hostages to be released are the remaining children and women (including female soldiers), men over the age of 50 and sick/injured men.

30 hostages fall into this category, though we have been told that 8 of them are dead.

So far, across Phase 1, 16 hostages have been released - 4 female civilians, the 5 female observer soldiers, and seven elderly/sick men.

That leaves 14 hostages in Phase 1, 8 of whom are dead. So the two remaining hostage releases in this phase will see 3 living hostages and 4 bodies returned to Israel each week.

We then, hopefully, move into Phase 2 and Phase 3, in which the at that point 59 remaining male hostages (men aged under 50) and male soldiers, will be released, although about half of them are believed to be dead.

Thank you for the clarification.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-18-2025/

"Israeli and Hamas officials say that a deal has been reached for the terror group to free six living hostages on Saturday.

In addition, four bodies will be transferred to Israel on Thursday.
Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Al Hayya says that the six living hostages will include two Israelis, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held for over a decade.

Al Hayya says the release will be conditioned on Israel living up to its part of the first phase of the deal.

Initially three living hostages had been set to go free on Saturday.

The six are believed to be the final living hostages on the list of those to be released in the first phase of the deal. Fourteen of the 33 hostages on the original phase 1 list have yet to be freed; Hamas has said eight of them are dead, and Israel has said that this matches its own information. The only name on the list whose death Israel has confirmed is Shlomo Mantzur. Israel has said it has “grave concerns” for the fate of Shiri Bibas and her young sons Ariel and Kfir.

It is believed that another 24 living hostages would be released under phase 2 of the deal.

A senior Israeli official confirms the details to the Walla news site.

Israel has said it will confirm the identity of the bodies released once they have been definitively identified."

I've seen unconfirmed rumours, but I do not want to share speculation, as it is damaging for families. 💔

Not that I think they read mumsnet. But still.

💔

Thank you for sharing, @EllaDisenchanted . I don't have words to express how deeply sorry I am, to everyone - the innocent people taken hostage, their families and friends, and every Israeli and Jewish person suffering as a result of Hamas's cruelty.

Thank you @Scirocco🫂

the six living hostages will include two Israelis, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held for over a decade.

Wow. I’ve just looked these poor men up. Both obviously very vulnerable with mental health difficulties, neither with involvement with the military (not that that makes it OK) and held for over 10 years! What they will have been through over that time is imaginable. This just gets sicker and sicker!

I know it sounds very crass and I have no intention of causing upset but I can’t get my head round how the bodies of hostages being returned were kept. I doubt Hamas/whoever held them have kept them in an environment where they were preserved for 14 months and they obviously weren’t in the hospitals or they’d have been found by now. I just can’t get my head round human beings holding the dead bodies of other human beings hostage and actually TAKING dead bodies to keep them as hostage/leverage. No dignity, no small comfort to the families of knowing where they are and that they are ‘safe’ IYKWIM.

I think we know Sheri and her babies aren’t going to be released alive and it is just so monstrous and demonic.

I honestly can’t fathom how the families have managed to cope or what Yarden is experiencing knowing these evil, despicable monsters have his children. I would honestly go insane.

And thousands of people have been protesting and marching in support of them all over the world for over a year.

Shame, shame, shame on all of them!

Online news is advising that "Hamas will be releasing the bodies of two small children and their mother".

Those bleak words, dashing the hope so many of has had for a different outcome.

BDE

Oh my goodness. So sad. When is that?

There is a BBC article about the return of hostages which references the Bibas family, consistent with Pennina's post above.

😢😢😢💔💔💔 May their memory be a blessing.

The 6 living hostages to be released are named as Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shemtov, Averu Mengistu, and Hisham Al-Sayed.

@SleekBlackCat your post completely echos what I think.