Rafah: Palestinian Territories: Palestinian militants liberated two Israeli hostages on Saturday, among the last living detainees of release under the first phase of a critical war, which is expected to release Palestinian prisoners.
Freedom is two days in Israel, where another hostage Sherry Babas family had previously confirmed the recovery of their remains on Saturday.
Militants took Tal Schum and Auro Mangsto on a stage in Rafah, southern Gaza. Shohham was designed to address the gathering, in which armed and masked fighters dressed in black, before the two men were handed over to the Red Cross, who to take them to the convoy. Later he fired. The military said the Israeli security forces seized the men and returned them to the Israeli territory.
In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, hundreds gathered on a site known as the ‘Square Hathmall’. Four other hostages are to be released on Saturday at a separate event in central Gaza.
The Israeli campaign group hostage and the missing Families Forum published the names of six Israelis to liberate. The list included Elias Cohen, Omar Sham Touu, Omar Vancrit and Hisham Sayed, as well as Mangsto and Shoham.
The hostages were released under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which began on January 19, and its expiry in early March. A Hamas source told AFP that the group had planned to release four hostages from Central Gaza at the end of the day.
The Palestinian prisoners club’s lawyer group said Israel would release 602 prisoners on Saturday as part of the exchange. A NGO spokesman said most of Ghazan was arrested after the war began. He added that after his release, some prisoners would be deported outside Israel and Palestinian territories. Expectations expected were serving huge sentences.
The ceasefire has so far liberated 21 living Israeli hostages from Gaza in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons. The release of the hostages on Saturday after the first transfer of the bodies of the hostages on Thursday.
Hamas had said that the four bodies returning to Thursday included Sherry Babas’ remains, but the Israeli analysis concluded that they were not going to promote grief and anger. Hamas then acknowledged the possibility of “any mistake or bodies,” which led to the Israeli bombing of the area.
