According to information from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the two hostages released on Thursday afternoon is dual French national Mia Shem, who was kidnapped at the music festival in the Negev desert on the 7th of October. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of “great joy” at the release. The terrorist organization Hamas published a video of the 21-year-old in mid-October in which she could be seen injured in her arm. The second hostage released is Amit Soussana, 40 years old.
According to Israeli authorities, the other hostages scheduled for release would be handed over to the Red Cross “in the coming hours”. As in recent days, the release of another 30 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons was also planned.
The new releases became possible after the Israeli army and Hamas announced an extension of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that had been in force since last Friday – shortly before it expired. In total, 72 Israeli women and children, as well as around 30 other foreign hostages, mostly guest workers from Thailand, have been released by Hamas since the ceasefire came into force last Friday. In return, Israel has so far released 210 Palestinian prisoners from its prisons.
During its brutal attack on Israel on October 7, Hamas abducted around 240 people in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of fighters from the militia, classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, entered Israel and, according to Israeli data, killed around 1,200 people.
In response, Israel massively bombed targets in the Gaza Strip for weeks. According to Hamas figures, which cannot be independently verified, almost 15,000 people have been killed in Palestinian territory so far.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his third visit to Israel since October 7, expressed his hope for a further extension of the ceasefire. This was effective because it allowed hostages to return to their families and allowed more humanitarian aid to be delivered to “innocent civilians” in the Gaza Strip, Blinken said in a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
In a meeting with Netanyahu, Blinken insisted on the best possible protection for the local civilian population, given the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. Blinken later spoke in Ramallah, West Bank, at a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about “measures to enhance the security and freedom of Palestinians in the West Bank.” Blinken also reiterated that the US remains “determined to advance concrete steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state”.
The Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas, formally exercises political control over the West Bank, which remains militarily occupied by Israel – while the radical Islamist Hamas rules in the Gaza Strip. Since Hamas’ major attack on Israel, the situation in the West Bank has also become more serious.
Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Karim Khan, visited Israel “at the request and invitation” of survivors and families of victims of the Hamas attack. “While the visit is not investigative in nature, it represents an important opportunity to express sympathy to all the victims and initiate a dialogue,” the ICC wrote about X. Khan also wanted to travel to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.