Hamas and Israel announced, on Tuesday, February 18, an agreement for the liberation on Saturday of six Israeli hostages detained in Gaza after the restitution Thursday of the bodies of four captives, among which, according to the Islamist movement, the last two hostages.
The family of the two children, Ariel and Kfir, aged five and two, and their mother Shiri Bibas, said they were shaken by the announcement of Hamas but having received no “official confirmation” of their death. The Palestinian Islamist movement announced that it “decided to hand over four bodies on Thursday, among which (those of) the Bibas family”, in exchange for the Liberation on Saturday by Israel of Palestinian prisoners, as planned by the cease-fire agreement . Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu confirmed that four hostage bodies will be handed over to Israel on Thursday, before the release of six living hostages on Saturday.
The hostage families forum in stride published on Tuesday the names of the six Israelis who are to be released on Saturday from the Gaza Strip. “The hostage families forum salutes with a deep joy the return of Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hicham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu this Saturday,” the collective said in a press release.
Nineteen Israeli hostages already released
The precarious ceasefire silenced the weapons in Gaza on January 19, after 15 months of a devastating war launched by the attack on the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, 2023 against Israel, during which 251 people were removed . The discussions, hitherto delayed, on the continuation of the truce will begin “this week”, assured this Tuesday the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar. He stressed that his country demanded “a total demilitarization of Gaza” for the post-war period.
In total, 33 Israeli hostages must be released during the first phase of the ceasefire which ends on March 1, against 1900 Palestinians held by Israel. Since the start of the truce, 19 Israeli hostages and 1134 Palestinians have been released.
The “Portes of Hell”
After interviews Sunday in Jerusalem with the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, Benyamin Netanyahu had threatened to open the “gates of hell” in the Gaza Strip if all the hostages were not released, taking up an expression of the American president Donald Trump. After more than 500 days of captivity, 70 people are still retained in Gaza, at least 35 of which died, according to the Israeli army.
Supposed to start on March 2, the second phase of the ceasefire provides for the release of all hostages and the final end of the war, before a final stage devoted to the reconstruction of Palestinian ruins. Donald Trump’s project plans to place Gaza under American control and to expel the 2.4 million inhabitants. On the post-war period, “just as I got involved in this […] That there is no more Hamas or Palestinian authority, I must respect the plan “of Donald Trump” for the creation of another Gaza, “Benyamin Netanyahu said on Monday.