Hamas frees six Israeli hostages; Palestinian prisoner release delayed

Hamas freed six more Israeli hostages in Gaza on Saturday, but Israel delayed the release of about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees for reasons that were unclear. It was to be the largest swap under a ceasefire agreement that began last month.

An Israel official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said a decision on “next steps” would be made after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held a “security consultation” Saturday evening. Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou in a statement called the delay a “a blatant violation of the agreement.”

The Israeli hostages were handed over Saturday in three locations inside Gaza. Ethiopian-born Avera Mengistu, 38, who had been held in Gaza for more than a decade since crossing into the enclave, and Tal Shoham, 40, who was kidnapped from his family home in Kibbutz Beeri in the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, were released in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The men, in hooded tracksuits, were paraded before a cheering crowd and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Later Saturday, Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were released in the central city of Nuseirat. Each was kidnapped Oct. 7 at the Nova music festival.

Two unreleased hostages were brought in a vehicle to watch the release of the three hostages, a video posted by Hamas showed. The Hostages Families Forum said they were Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal.

Hisham al-Sayed, 37, a Bedouin who, like Mengistu, wandered into Gaza around a decade ago, had returned to Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces said. Family members of both men said they suffered mental health challenges.

More than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were expected to be released in return, but it was unclear when that might happen amid reports of a delay.

The group includes roughly 445 Palestinians who were detained in Gaza in the course of the war and 151 who were serving prison terms, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said. The latter group included 50 serving life sentences and 60 serving lengthy terms. Ninety-seven are to be exiled, the club said.

Among the most prominent is Nael Barghouti, 67. Sentenced to life in the stabbing death of an Israeli bus driver in 1978, he’s been incarcerated for 44 of the last 47 years, making him the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner.

Barghouti was released in a prisoner exchange in 2011, but he was rearrested three years later and had his original sentence reinstated. Some 41 of the prisoners due to be released Saturday were freed in the 2011 exchange but rearrested, according to Palestinian authorities.

Barghouti was expected to be released into exile in Egypt and barred from returning to his home village of Kobar in the occupied West Bank.

The exchange is the first since Hamas released an unidentified body instead of that of Shiri Bibas earlier this week, threatening the delicate ceasefire. Bibas was 32 when she was kidnapped with her 4-year-old and 8½-month-old sons during the Oct. 7 Hamas assault.

Hamas said the remains had been mixed up in the Israeli airstrike that it said had killed Bibas and her children. The militants released a second body Friday that the family has confirmed is that of Bibas. Netanyahu accused Hamas of “cynically” refusing to return her remains.

The Israeli military said Friday that autopsy findings showed the children had been “brutally murdered.” The Bibas family Saturday asked that the details of how the family was killed not be published. Family members said they had not received confirmation from official sources.

“For 16 months, we sought certainty, and now that we have it, there is no comfort in it, but we hope for the beginning of a closure,” the family said in a statement.

The Israeli hostages released Saturday were the last live captives scheduled to be freed under the first phase of the ceasefire. The bodies of four hostages are set to be released next week before the first phase ends March 1. By then, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza. More than half of them are believed to be dead.

Whether the ceasefire proceeds to a planned second phase, when the rest of the hostages are to be released and the Israeli military withdraws from Gaza, is uncertain. Hamas has said it is willing to release all remaining hostages to accelerate the second phase, but negotiations have stalled.

Hostage families have demanded Netanyahu explain why there have been delays.

Israelis gathered in the rain to celebrate and mourn in the Tel Aviv plaza that has become known as Hostages Square.

Galit Berman Miron, 48, sat next to a memorial for the Bibas family. “I don’t want to leave it,” she said. “It is also a tragedy when they come back, because they suffered so much.”

Yael Alexander, the mother of hostage Edan Alexander, still captive, traveled to the square to watch the releases. Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old from New Jersey who holds both U.S. and Israeli citizenship, is a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. Soldiers are to be released in the next phase of the ceasefire.

“I just felt that I want to be next to everyone,” Yael Alexander said. “I’m feeling a lot of joy for the families, that they can reunite, and I’m waiting for my son.”

Now, she said, “we all need to be focused” on the second phase. “There are still dozens of young men alive.”

Iman Nafeh, Barghouti’s wife, said Israeli authorities had prevented her from leaving the West Bank to travel to Egypt to greet her husband upon his expulsion. “I’m happy for him that he’s going to be released and he’s alive,” she said, and cited the deaths of 58 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian figures.

“But I’m sad that I’m not going to be with him, not going to be with him. It’s mixed emotions.”

- - -

Heidi Levine in Tel Aviv and Hajar Harb in London contributed to this report.

© 2025 , The Washington Post