Hamas restored, on the night of Wednesday, February 26 to Thursday, February 27, four Israeli hostage corps died in Gaza, an operation accompanied by the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners, as part of the Trêve agreement in Gaza which expires this Saturday.
Among the bodies of the four hostages, that of Ohad Yahalomi, 49, last Franco-Israeli hostage in the hands of Hamas, removed in his house in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His son Eitan (12), released on November 27, 2023 during the first truce, was kidnapped separately. Ohad Yahalomi had been announced dead in January 2024 in a video broadcast by an Allied Hamas group, information that had never been confirmed by the Israeli army. He was presumed alive until Wednesday. In love with nature and large spaces, Ohad Yahalomi was employed by parks and nature authority.
“The death of our compatriot Ohad Yahalomi has just been confirmed. I share the immense pain of his family and loved ones,” reacted on X this Thursday Emmanuel Macronrecalling that France had lost “fifty of its children in the infamy of October 7”.
The other restored bodies are those of Tsachi Idan, Itzik Elgarat and Shloro Mansour. In exchange for their delivery to Israel, a bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah, in an occupied West Bank, where the ex-prisoners were greeted by a jubilation, noted an AFP journalist. Bearing the traditional Keffieh and jackets to cover their prison uniforms, the liberated prisoners went down from the bus in front of a compact crowd that acclaimed them, before submitting to a quick assessment. Sources of security and witnesses also reported the arrival of hundreds of prisoners in Khan Younès, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
According to one of these sources, it is 602 Palestinians who should have left prison on February 22 in exchange for six Israelis released by Hamas, and 23 women and minors. Israel had canceled the prison outings scheduled for last Saturday, demanding the end of “humiliating ceremonies” organized by Hamas almost each hosting. These staging, with hostages exhibited on podiums in front of Gazaouis crowds, were denounced several times, notably by Israel, the UN and the Red Cross.
For Hamas, Israel has “no other choice” than to negotiate
The exchange of this night was the last exchange planned as part of the first phase of the truce negotiated via the mediation of three countries – Qatar, Egypt, United States – and entered into force on January 19 in the Gaza Strip after fifteen months of war. The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu had demanded that the discount is “without ceremonies of Hamas”, unlike previous exchanges. The first phase of the truce must end on March 1. By including the restitutions of the night, it allowed the return to Israel of 33 hostages, including eight deceased. About 1,700 Palestinians were released.
After this final release, Hamas estimated that Israel now had “no other choice” than to start negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire. “He has no choice but to start negotiations for the second phase,” said the Palestinian Islamist movement in a statement, saying that I Israel cannot have “false excuses” to make the process fail.
“Lots of progress”
The uncertainty weighs on the continuation of the ceasefire and the terms of the second stage, supposed to start on March 2 and lead to the final end of the war and the release of all the hostages still retained in Gaza, have still not been negotiated. Again on Wednesday, the Israeli army said it had struck the launching of projectiles in Gaza, after having identified a shot earlier, fell into the Palestinian territory. Tuesday evening, the emissary of American president Donald Trump for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, however reported “a lot of progress” for a resumption of talks. He announced that Israel sent a team of negotiators “either to Doha or in Cairo, where negotiations will begin”.
Israel has not confirmed this information. Hamas had previously said it ready to give Israel all the remaining hostages “in one go” during this second phase. Before the exchange of the night, out of the 251 hostages removed on October 7 in Israel, 62 were still retained in Gaza, including 35 dead, according to the Israeli army.
The attack on Hamas, October 7, 2023, led to the death of 1,215 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data and including hostages dead or killed in captivity. A total of 251 people had been removed. The Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation in Gaza left at least 48,319 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.