More Israeli hostages will be released today, on the fourth day of the ceasefire between Israel and Islamist Hamas. Israel received a list of eleven hostages, as reported by the Times of Israel and other Israeli media.
Hostage released in mortal danger
According to Israeli media reports, one of the hostages released yesterday is in mortal danger. The 84-year-old woman was taken to an Israeli clinic in a life-threatening condition, she said, citing the hospital in Beer Sheva.
The Israeli army had previously announced that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) handed over twelve Israeli hostages on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and another was taken by helicopter to a hospital.
In return, 39 Palestinian prisoners were released from various Israeli prisons that night. According to prison authorities, all are under 19 years old and one of them comes from the Gaza Strip.
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Four-year-old girl survived Hamas terror with her father’s body
Meanwhile, details have emerged about the fate of a four-year-old girl with dual US and Israeli citizenship, released by Hamas. Before being deported to the Gaza Strip, she had to witness the murder of both her parents.
On October 7, the then three-year-old child was at home, on the border with the Gaza Strip, with her two brothers, aged ten and six, when Hamas terrorists invaded and shot her mother in front of the three children.
As her father lay protectively over his daughter, he was also shot, US media reported. Her brothers survived because they hid in a box, where they waited 14 hours before being rescued, she said.
Her younger sister, who was initially thought to be dead, climbed out from under her father’s body and ran to a neighbor’s house, the Washington Post said, citing a relative of the girl. The terrorists grabbed the girl along with the five neighboring family members and kidnapped them. The girl completed four years in captivity on Friday.
Biden: “What she had to endure is unimaginable”
“What she endured is unimaginable,” said US President Joe Biden, after the girl yesterday became the first US citizen to be released from among the hostages in the agreement between Israel and Hamas. “She went through terrible trauma,” Biden said.
Hostages released from Thailand healthy
The three Thai hostages recently released by Hamas are in good health, according to the Thai government. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced this via X (Twitter). Thavisin wrote that she was happy that the three people were healthy and did not need urgent medical treatment.
USA: Hostages are not just held by Hamas
It is believed that there are still around 200 hostages held in the Gaza Strip – and according to US information, not all of them are in the hands of Hamas.
“We are also aware that it is not just Hamas that is holding hostages,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told NBC. In addition to Islamic Jihad, which along with Hamas was also directly involved in the October 7 attack on Israel, Sullivan cited “other groups that are not directly affiliated with Hamas but have loose ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.”