Hamas, which carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, took more than 200 hostages in Gaza. Hamas, which abandoned the American mother and daughter in the second week of the war, this time handed over two elderly Israeli hostages to Red Cross officials.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, which released 80-year-old Nurit Ishaq and 85-year-old Yoshved Lifshitz, through Egyptian and Qatari mediation, published a video clip. In the video clip showing the two hostages being handed over to the medical staff, it also appeared that the two elderly women were offered hot drinks in addition to food.
At the end of the video, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz holds the hand of a man in camouflage fatigues with his face covered, then turns and shakes hands with the same fighter before handing him over to paramedics.
The hostages, whose release Hamas announced for health reasons, were transferred to Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, by helicopter. Yitzhak and Lifshitz were transferred from the helicopter to an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
International Red Cross employees played a role in taking hostages from Hamas and handing them over to the Israeli authorities.
He thanked Israel, the International Red Cross, and Egypt.
There were reports on Monday that Hamas might release 50 foreign and dual national hostages in exchange for a ceasefire, but Israel denied these reports.
Haaretz newspaper wrote that the released elderly couple, Amiram (85 years old) and Oded (83 years old), are still hostages in the hands of Hamas in Gaza.
(Tags for translation)Israel