TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military says its forces in Gaza received the latest three hostages freed by Hamas and was bringing them back into Israel.
In a statement, the mlitary said the three would undergo an initial medical assessment. The three Israeli men in their 20s — Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen — were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in the central Gaza town of Nuseirat. Earlier in the day, Hamas freed two other hostages, and a sixth is due to be released later Saturday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Hamas freed the first five of six Israeli hostages due to be released Saturday even as heightened tension between the adversaries clouded the future of the fragile ceasefire deal.
A poster shows Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
The five were handed over to the Red Cross in two separate ceremonies in Gaza, brought out on stages by masked, armed Hamas fighters in front of hundreds of Palestinians. In the central town of Nuseirat, three Israeli men in their 20s — Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen — were posed alongside the fighters. A beaming Omer Shem Tov blew kisses to the crowd, flashed the thumbs up, and even kissed the militant next to him on the head.
Watching the release, Cohen’s family and friends in Israel chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” and cheered when they saw him for the first time. Shem Tov’s grandmother ululated in joy, shrieking, “Omer, my joy! My life!” as she saw him.
The three were put in Red Cross vehicles that then headed for Israel. Earlier in the day, two other hostages were freed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. A sixth hostage, 36-year-old Hisham al-Sayed, is also due to be released Saturday.
The latest release, to be followed by the freeing of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, is going ahead after tensions mounted over a grisly and heart-wrenching dispute triggered this week when Hamas initially handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother of two young boys abducted by militants.
The remains that Hamas transferred with her sons’ bodies on Thursday were later determined to be those of an unidentified Palestinian woman. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge for “a cruel and malicious violation,” while Hamas suggested it had been a mistake.
On Friday night, the small militant group believed to have been holding Bibas and her sons — the Palestinian Mujahedeen Brigades — said it handed over a second body. On Saturday morning, Bibas’ family said Israeli forensic authorities had confirmed the remains were hers.
“For 16 months we sought certainty, and now that it’s here, it brings no comfort, though we hope it marks the beginning of closure,” the family said.
Difficult negotiations likely over the ceasefire’s next phase
The dispute raised new doubt about the ceasefire deal, which has paused over 15 months of war but is nearing the end of its first phase. Negotiations over a second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal, are likely to be even more difficult.
The six hostages being freed Saturday are the last living ones to be released under the first phase. The new releases brought a moment of joy and relief for families, but with the ceasefire’s future uncertain, fears remain over the fate of the remaining hostages seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 in Israel and ignited the war.
Cohen, Shem Tov and Wenkert were abducted by Hamas fighters at the Nova music festival. During their release, they were brought out wearing fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when they were kidnapped
Earlier Saturday, two other hostages — Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38 — were freed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“This is an unforgettable moment, where all emotions are rapidly mixing together. Our Tal is with us,” Shoham’s family said in a statement, calling for a deal to free all those still captive. “There is a window of opportunity; we must not miss it.”
Shoham, who also holds Austrian citizenship, was visiting his wife’s family in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants stormed into the community during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. Shoham’s wife, two young children, and three other relatives who were abducted with him were freed in a November 2023 exchange.
Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, had been held in Gaza since entering on his own in 2014. Watching the handover on Israeli media, Mengistu’s family broke out into a Hebrew song, “Here is the Light,” as they saw him for the first time in more than a decade.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners set for release
More than 600 Palestinians jailed in Israel will be freed in exchange, the Palestinian prisoners media office said Friday. They include 50 serving life sentences, 60 with long sentences, 47 who were released under a previous hostage-for-prisoner exchange and 445 Palestinians who were seized by Israeli troops in Gaza since the war began.
Hamas fighters deploy ahead of handing over four bodies to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. Israel has identified three of the bodies as hostages and said the other was of an unknown person. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Hamas has said it will also release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase of the ceasefire. If that plan is carried out, Hamas would retain about 60 hostages, about half of whom are believed to be alive.
Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he’s committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
Trump’s Gaza plan adds to uncertainty
Trump’s proposal to remove about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and rebuild it has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt. His idea has been welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries.
Trump said Friday that he was “a little surprised” by rejections of the proposal by Egypt and Jordan and that he would not impose it.
“I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,” Trump said in a Fox News interview.
Israel’s military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
___
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel. AP correspondents Abdel-Kareem Hana in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
