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Channah Peri (left), Daniele Aloni and her daughter Emilia, and Adina Moshe (right) are among the hostages released by Hamas as part of the deal with Israel
Item information
- Author: Yolande Knell and David Gritten
- Scrolling, from BBC News in Jerusalem and London
- November 24, 2023, 12:13 03
Updated 2 hours ago
The Israeli government confirmed to the BBC that a group of Hamas hostages were released on Friday (24/11).
The exact number of people released so far is not yet known, but the Red Cross says 24 people have been released so far.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that the first hostages had already arrived on Israeli territory and were being taken to hospitals to assess their health.
The hostages have undergone initial medical examinations and will be taken to hospitals in Israel to be reunited with their families.
“The IDF, together with the entire Israeli security system, will continue to operate until all hostages return home,” the official statement said.
The Israeli government released the names of 13 of its released citizens all women, some of them elderly and children:
- Adina Moshe, 72 years old;
- Aviv Asher, 2 years old;
- Channah Peri, 79 years old;
- Daniele Aloni, 45 years old;
- Doron Katz Asher, 34;
- Emilia Aloni, 6 years old;
- Hanna Katzir, 76 years old;
- Keren Munder, 54;
- Margalit Mozes, 77 years old;
- Ohad Munder, 9 years old;
- Raz Asher, 4 years old;
- Ruth Munder, 78 years old;
- Yafa Adar, 85 years old.
The Israeli government said the other eleven hostages were foreigners.
The Red Cross described the operation as a “multiday” operation that would also include the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
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One of the liberated Palestinians is carried on a man’s shoulders, wrapped in a flag
As part of the conflict peace agreement, a total of 39 imprisoned Palestinians were released by Israel in addition to the hostages. Among them are 24 women and 15 teenagers.
They were released at the Beitunia checkpoint near Ramallah and greeted by a crowd with flags and fireworks amid shouts of welcome and “God is great.”
The Palestinians were viewed by Israel as a security threat and were accepted as victims of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Their liberation is considered symbolic.
According to Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, another twelve Thai citizens previously kidnapped by Hamas were also released.
Thavisin said embassy officials were “on their way to pick them up” but did not specify where the hostages were.
Egypt’s State Information Service confirmed the release: “Egypt’s intensive efforts resulted in the release of 12 Thai nationals.”
The release of Thai citizens is not part of the Qatarbrokered agreement between Israel and Hamas.
What the agreement provides
In total, 50 of the 240 civilians kidnapped during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, an incident that ended with the deaths of 1,400 people, will be released.
The deal also includes the release of 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and a significant increase in humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.
At least 60 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the lull in the conflict. Israel said eight of the trucks were carrying fuel, part of the 130,000 liters scheduled to be delivered each day during the ceasefire.
After the Israeli coalition government signed the agreement on Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “at least 50 hostages women and children will be released within four days, during which fighting will be suspended.”
It also offered Hamas an incentive to release more hostages, saying: “The release of every ten additional hostages will result in an additional day of rest.”
This clause is important for the families of the hostages, some of whom had previously told the BBC that they did not want a partial agreement.
The 50 hostages expected to be released in four groups are Israeli citizens or dual citizens, not foreigners.
A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters in Doha on Thursday afternoon (November 23) that the first group of hostages to be released on Friday would consist of 13 children and women, including some elderly people. “Hostages from the same family are gathered in the same group,” Majid alAnsari noted.
A senior U.S. government official said Wednesday that at least three U.S. citizens including 3yearold Avigail Idan, a dualcitizen Israeli whose parents were killed at Kibbutz Kfar Aza were among the 50 hostages.
A senior Israeli government official said Tuesday afternoon that Hamas could also unilaterally release the 26 Thai nationals believed to be among the hostages.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was tasked with hosting the hostages in Gaza, as was the case when Hamas released four women two Israelis and two with dual IsraeliUS citizenship last month.
On Wednesday evening, Netanyahu cited the agreement as saying that the ICRC could also “visit the rest of the hostages and give them the necessary medicines.” However, Ansari from Qatar did not reveal whether this was the case.
Israeli forces operating in the Gaza Strip also rescued a soldier and recovered the bodies of two other female hostages a soldier and a civilian.
The Israeli government said it would “continue the war to return all hostages home, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza.”
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The agreement will allow Gaza residents safe passage from northern areas such as Jabalia refugee camp to the south
What will happen in Gaza during the break?
A lengthy Hamas statement released Wednesday morning provided more details about what is expected to result in a halt to Israeli military actions during a socalled “hudna,” a temporary ceasefire.
The Palestinian group said all Israeli drone and aircraft activity in the southern Gaza Strip should cease for four days.
But in the north which has been the main target of Israeli operations to dismantle Hamas the same thing will only happen between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Brasília) every day.
Israeli troops and tanks are expected to remain in their positions in the Gaza Strip during the fourday standoff. However, the Hamas statement said Israeli forces would not attack or arrest anyone.
Ansari said there would be “a comprehensive ceasefire” in the north and south, while Qatar’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammed alKhulaifi, told Portal there would be “no attack, no military movement, no expansion, nothing.”
The agreement will allow Gazans safe passage from northern areas, such as the Jabalia refugee camp, to the south.
For Palestinians in Gaza, 1.7 million of whom have fled their homes, according to the UN, a pause in the bloody fighting may not be enough.
The agreement stipulates that 200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, four fuel tankers and four trucks carrying cooking gas will be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing on each of the four days.
But it is understood that the fuel surge urgently needed for hospital generators, water desalination plants and wastewater plants will only last as long as the pause lasts.
Ansari said additional help would arrive in Gaza as soon as possible after the break began on Friday morning and that there had been a period of calm that had made the site safe for aid workers.
In retaliation for the Hamas attack, Israel cut off electricity and most water and halted the delivery of food, fuel and other goods to Gaza.
Since then, the Israeli government has allowed 1,399 humanitarian supply trucks to enter through Egypt between October 21 and November 21, compared to a monthly average of 10,000 before the war, according to the United Nations.
In addition, all fuel shipments were blocked until last week on the grounds that the supplies could be stolen by Hamas and used for military purposes.
And while the agreement will allow people in Gaza to travel safely from north to south, it will not allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the north to return to their homes.
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According to the Hamascontrolled health ministry in Gaza, more than 14,000 people have been killed since Israel began an offensive on Palestinian territory
Who are the hostages?
There is little information about the released hostages other than their names and ages, but some details have already been confirmed.
One of the women released is 79yearold Channah Peri, who was abducted from her home along with her son Nadav, who remains hostage.
Channah’s other son, Roi, 54, was killed in the October 7 attacks.
Daniele Aloni and her 6yearold daughter Emilia were also released. They were kidnapped on October 7 while visiting family on a kibbutz.
During the attacks, the last message Daniele sent to her family said that “there were terrorists in the house” and that she feared she would not survive.
Margalit Moses, 78, and Adina Moshe, 72, were also kidnapped from a kibbutz. Adina
Her husband, Sa’id Moshe, was killed in the attacks. Her family identified her from a video that showed her trapped between two Hamas fighters on a motorcycle. She has four children: Maya, Yael, Sasson and Amos.
“She will be able to once again help raise her grandchildren who live on the kibbutz and pursue her hobbies: cooking, growing plants and reading books,” the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families said.
Who are the Palestinian prisoners?
Hamas said the deal would also allow Israel to release 150 Palestinian prisoners all women and children.
The identities of those released have not yet been revealed.
The Israeli government’s statement made no mention of this, but on Wednesday morning the Justice Ministry published a list in Hebrew with the names of 300 prisoners who could be released under the deal based on the possibility that Hamas would agree to the release of another 50 hostages would agree.
The list includes 123 boys aged 14 to 17, a 15yearold girl, 144 18yearold men and 32 women aged 18 to 59 most of whom are in custody awaiting trial on charges that ranging from stones to attempted murder.
The reason the list had to be made public was a legal formality in Israel. Before a prisoner is released, Israeli citizens must have 24 hours to appeal to the country’s Supreme Court.
Ansari said Qatar could not provide details about the Palestinian prisoners or how many would be released on the first day. However, he noted that the releases would occur simultaneously with those of the hostages in Gaza.
According to Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, Israel is currently holding around 7,000 Palestinians who have been accused or convicted of security crimes. Nearly 3,000 Palestinians are believed to have been detained since October 7 in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where violence has also increased.
The Hamas statement concluded that the agreement was aimed at “serving our people and strengthening their steadfastness in the face of aggression.”
He also warned: “Our fingers remain on the trigger and our victorious fighters will remain vigilant to defend our people and defeat the occupation.”
How is the agreement monitored?
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said an operations room in Doha would maintain realtime communications links with Israel, Hamas’ political office and the Red Cross Committee so that possible violations “would be immediately reported by both sides and there would be a way forward.” “. back.”
The most important thing is to “ensure that the environment in which the hostage taking will take place is safe,” he added.
Ansari said Qatar hoped to extend the temporary ceasefire beyond the first four days to ensure the release of more hostages. He also expressed hope that the temporary ceasefire would serve as a “test run for further deescalation measures… and a more sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.”