Hamas launched eight hostages, together with three Israelis and five Thais, on Thursday as a part of a hostage-for-prisoner change, greater than a yr after they have been taken captive throughout the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Agam Berger, an Israeli military soldier, was launched first in a extremely choreographed ceremony in northern Gaza. A second hostage launch in southern Gaza descended into chaos as crowds pushed ahead to attempt to get a glimpse of them.
The hostage launch is a part of a 42-day cease-fire deal that went into impact this month, pausing the preventing between Israel and Hamas. Hamas agreed to incrementally launch 33 of the almost 100 remaining hostages in change for greater than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal.
Right here’s a more in-depth take a look at the Israelis launched on Thursday.
Agam Berger
Ms. Berger was 19 and lately assigned as a lookout when Hamas-led militants stormed the Nahal Oz military base the place she was working, killing greater than 50 troopers and abducting her and 6 different troopers. 4 of them have been earlier released in an exchange on Saturday.
Ms. Berger’s mom, Meirav, mentioned she final noticed her daughter after they dropped her off on the base on Oct. 5, 2023, two days earlier than the assault. Based on an internet site created by her family, and her dad and mom’ accounts in Israeli information media, Ms. Berger referred to as her dad and mom in the midst of the assault, utilizing the cellphone of a pal who was killed subsequent to her. She instructed them that she might hear photographs being fired and that folks have been crying, however that she was not afraid, in keeping with the web site.
In November 2023, Agam Goldstein-Almog, who was taken captive together with her daughter and two sons and was launched as a part of the primary cease-fire deal, mentioned that she had been held in a tunnel with Ms. Berger and the opposite troopers serving as lookouts who had been captured. She mentioned that Ms. Berger was praying rather a lot, and appeared to be in good spirits.
In August, Ms. Berger’s household held an occasion to mark her birthday at Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum of the Jewish Folks, centered on music as a result of she is obsessed with music and performs the violin. She has a twin sister and two different siblings.
Gadi Moses
Gadi Moses, a farming skilled, was kidnapped in Kibbutz Nir Oz after stepping out of his residence to attempt to reason with the militants.
His companion, Efrat Katz, hid inside a secure room of their residence together with her daughter and two visiting grandchildren, earlier than they have been additionally taken by militants. Their kidnapping was captured on video that confirmed them squashed at the back of a pickup truck.
Ms. Katz was killed when an Israeli helicopter, responding to the Hamas-led assault, fired on the automobile by which she was being held. Her daughter and grandchildren have been launched throughout the November 2023 cease-fire.
Mr. Moses, then 79, was seen in December of 2023 in a video launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, calling on Israel to work for his release. The household mentioned in September that they’d had no word of his fate since.
Arbel Yehud
Arbel Yehud was 28 when she was taken hostage along with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, from their residence on Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. Mr. Cunio is believed to nonetheless be held captive. Her brother, Dolev Yehud, a medic, was considered a hostage as properly however was recognized last year as having been killed throughout the Oct. 7 assault.
Ms. Yehud’s household has described her as obsessed with house and astronomy and mentioned she had labored as a information at an area and expertise heart.
In February, her father, Yechi Yehud, told The Daily Mail that he had been avoiding watching or studying any information in order to not elevate his hopes for a deal. Her mom, Yael Yehud, described herself as “damaged” and mentioned she typically imagined her kids strolling by the door once more.
On Ms. Yehud’s twenty ninth birthday in June, her close friend, Shani Goren, who had been a hostage and was launched within the first cease-fire deal, spoke at a rally in Tel Aviv and described the problem of recovering.
“Day by day I get up, I’m nonetheless held hostage,” she mentioned. “As a result of till Arbel and everybody else return residence, we will’t even start to debate rehabilitation and shifting ahead. I do know. I used to be there.”
Ms. Yehud had been anticipated to be launched on Saturday, prompting some of the vital disputes between Israel and Hamas for the reason that begin of the cease-fire.
Israeli officers had mentioned they believed she was not being held by Hamas, and had instructed that one other militant group was answerable for the holdup in her launch. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Monday released a video, which an evaluation by The New York Occasions dates to Jan. 25, by which she says, “My household, I’m OK. I miss you endlessly and I hope to return to you quickly, like the women who had been launched.”
Rights teams and worldwide legislation specialists have famous that, by definition, such hostage movies are made below duress, and that the statements in them are normally coerced.
