On Saturday, February 22, Palestinian militants released two Israeli hostages as part of the first phase of a fragile ceasefire deal. This marks one of the final releases of Israeli captives under the truce, which also involves the exchange of Palestinian prisoners. The release followed the confirmation of the remains of Shiri Bibas, an Israeli woman who had become a symbol of the suffering experienced by hostages since the onset of the Gaza war. Bibas, along with her two young sons, was taken hostage during the unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which marked the beginning of over 15 months of conflict in Gaza.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, armed and masked militants escorted two Israeli hostages—Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu—onto a stage. Shoham was made to address the crowd before the two were handed over to the Red Cross, who transported them in a convoy. Israeli security forces later took custody of the hostages and returned them to Israeli territory, according to military sources.
In Tel Aviv, a crowd gathered at ‘Hostages Square,’ reacting with applause and tears as they watched the release on broadcast. Four more hostages were scheduled to be freed later that morning as part of a separate exchange in central Gaza. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum revealed that Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Hisham al-Sayed would also be released, alongside Shoham and Mengistu. Sayed and Mengistu had been held in Gaza for about a decade.
The hostages’ release was part of a ceasefire deal that began on January 19 and is set to expire in early March. A Hamas source confirmed plans to release four additional hostages from Nuseirat in central Gaza later that day.
The release ceremonies, staged by militants, included banners promoting their cause and honoring fallen fighters, with Hamas fighters standing with automatic weapons and rocket launchers. Palestinian nationalistic music played while green flags were displayed around war-damaged buildings. The Red Cross has repeatedly called for the handovers to be conducted with dignity.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is set to release 602 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. Most of the prisoners are Gazans arrested after the war began, with some facing deportation. Some of the deportees were serving heavy sentences.
So far, the ceasefire has resulted in the release of 21 living Israeli hostages in exchange for over 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.
The release comes after Thursday’s first transfer of remains, which sparked confusion when Hamas initially claimed that the remains of Shiri Bibas had been returned. However, Israeli authorities later determined they were not hers, leading to widespread grief. Hamas later acknowledged a possible mix-up, attributing the confusion to Israeli airstrikes.
The Bibas family confirmed on Friday that after identification at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, they received the devastating news that Shiri Bibas had been killed in captivity. The family expressed their sorrow, stating, “Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family to rest.”
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Hamas would “pay the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.” On February 20, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, revealed that an analysis of remains confirmed that Bibas’s sons, Ariel and Kfir, had been killed “with their bare hands” in November 2023. Hamas maintained that the children and their mother were killed by an Israeli airstrike early in the war.
Shiri’s sister-in-law, Ofri Bibas, directed criticism at Netanyahu, expressing that the family was not seeking revenge but would never forgive the failure to secure the safety of Shiri and her children.
Among the four bodies returned on February 20 was that of Oded Lifshitz, 83. Since the October 7 attack, 251 people had been taken hostage by Hamas and its allies. Of those, 65 remain in Gaza, with the Israeli military stating that 35 of them are dead.
The initial attack in Israel resulted in 1,215 deaths, mostly civilians. In retaliation, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has led to at least 48,319 deaths, the majority of whom were civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
