Body of Shiri Bibas handed over; release of six more hostages underway

Three white vehicles have arrived at the staging area in Nuseirat ahead of the hostage release.

During every other release, these cars have carried the returning hostages, and as in previous releases, the cars are also accompanied by a truck carrying a group of fighters holding guns.

According to NBC’s team in Gaza, the handover in Nuseirat appears to have the highest presence of militants in attendance since the start of the exchanges.

Four red cross vehicles have arrived at Nuseirat, weaving slowly through a large crowd of armed fighters and civilians.

Hamas are expected to hand over four hostages in Nuseirat, after two were transferred to the Red Cross earlier today in Rafah.

President Donald Trump appeared to step back from his plans for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and displace the Palestinian population, after allies Egypt and Jordan bluntly rejected the plan.

During a telephone interview with Fox News radio, Trump said he was surprised that the two countries had not wanted to adopt his plan, despite the U.S. giving them “billions of dollars” a year, but said he was not going to force his idea on the region.

“I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,” he said.

The statement is a striking reversal from his widely condemned proposal to remove Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump also acknowledged the possibility of Hamas’ continued presence in a post-war Gaza, saying that it could be difficult to remove the group entirely.

“The question is, can you wipe them all out?” he asked. “You know, they’re so interspersed among people, and it’s certainly not an easy thing to do.”

The family of returning hostage Avera Mengistu says it has endured “ten years of unimaginable suffering” after he was released earlier today.

Mengistu was kidnapped while crossing the border into Gaza in 2015.

“During this time, there have been continuous efforts to secure his return, with prayers and pleas, some silent, that remained unanswered until today,” Mengistu’s family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Fellow hostage Hisham Al-Sayed was similarly kidnapped while crossing the border in 2014, and is set to be released in Nuseirat later today. 

Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu have crossed into Israel, according to the country’s military.

The two hostages released in Rafah today have been transferred to Israeli custody inside the Gaza Strip, the country’s military said.

The Israel Defense Forces said Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu would be taken to Israeli territory where they will undergo “an initial medical assessment.”

In Nuseirat, fighters have set up a similar staging arena, with dozens of Hamas fighters gathered to oversee the release and hundreds of civilian spectators, many of them wrapped in coats and sweaters in the wet weather.

Hamas is set to release three hostages captured at the Nova musical festival here later today: Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert.

Hisham al-Sayed, who has been held in Gaza since 2015, is also set to be released here.

The two hostages were quickly taken off stage and transferred into the Red Cross vehicles after briefly appearing in front of the crowd.

The speed of the transfer marks a departure from recent weeks, when hostages have taken part in a more elaborate and choreographed ceremony involving interviews, speeches, and photos with fighters.

The Israeli military also announced that the hostages have been transferred.

Tal Shoham is the first to emerge from the white vehicle to the sound of cheers from the crowd. He is promptly taken to the stage alongside a number of fighters holding weapons.

Avera Mengistu, who has been held in Gaza since 2014, has also appeared on stage.

As with previous releases, the pair appear to be holding documents. Shoham has also been handed a microphone, and said a few words before waving to the crowd.

Crowds of civilians have begun to gather in Nuseirat in central Gaza, where the second release is set to take place later today.

A member of the Red Cross has taken to the stage to the sound of whistles and cheers, where a fighter has presented her with a document to sign, following the procedure of previous releases.

Before the signing, another member of the Red Cross member briefly peered into one of the white vehicles.

At least three vehicles have arrived at the staging area ahead of the hostage release in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Two white cars appear similar to the vehicles that have carried returning hostages to previous releases. As previously, the cars were also accompanied to the square by a truck carrying a number of fighters holding guns.

Friends and supporters of Omer Shem Tov have gathered at his high school today in Herziliya to celebrate his impending release from captivity.

Footage of the group showed them singing, smiling and clapping ahead of his return, while waving signs in the air amidst a sea of Israeli flags.

Loved ones of Eliya Cohen have also gathered in Tel Aviv ahead of his release, and were pictured waiting anxiously as the day unfolds.

The pair are set to be released later today from Nuseirat.

Tal Shoham, 40, is the last of a group of seven family members kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 2023, during the Hamas attacks. His wife, two children, mother-in-law, and two other relatives were freed during the release in November 2023.

He is set to be released in Rafah alongside Avera Mengistu, a 39-year-old who has been held in Gaza since 2014. Mengistu immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia when he was five.

He was captured one year before Hisham Al-Sayed, who has been held in Gaza for nearly a decade. Hamas released a video of Al-Sayed in June 2022 showing him lying on a cot with an oxygen mask and warning that he was ill.

He is set to be released in the city of Nuseirat today alongside three Israeli hostages, including Eliya Cohen, 27, who worked in real estate in Israel before he was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival.

Omer Shem Tov, 22, was also captured at the festival. Tov’s mother tracked the signal on his phone on October 7, which showed him heading into Gaza after he had told her he was trying to escape from shooting in the area.

Omer Wenkert, 23, a restaurant manager, had sent texts to his family from the festival describing his fear. They learned of his kidnapping from a friend.

Red Cross vehicles have arrived at the arena in Rafah, where Hamas are set to release two hostages today.

Footage filmed by the NBC News crew showed civilians whistling as a convoy of four vehicles squeezed its way into the staging area, each of them bearing the Red Cross flag.

Red Cross vehicles accompanied by buses from Rafah have also set off toward the Kerem Shalom crossing east of Rafah to receive the Palestinian prisoners who will be released today in exchange for the hostages.

Scores of fighters have gathered by a stage set up by Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, masked and holding weapons in what had become a familiar display of force by the militant group during the hostage releases.

Hundreds of civilians have also gathered in the drizzling rain to watch as the group is expected to hand over Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham to the Red Cross.

The group is set to hand over another four hostages in the city of Nuseirat later today.

After Israel accused Hamas of reneging on the deal over the body of Shiri Bibas, Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said in a statement yesterday that Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip resulted in “corpses of Israeli prisoners mixing with corpses of Palestinians, thousands of whom are still under the rubble.”

Naim further expressed frustration at the “double standards” regarding the treatment of Palestinian and Israeli dead, saying that Palestinians officals have received bodies from Israel “in blue bags without any identification on them and without any respect for their humanity.”

“We did not hear any condemnation of these crimes from international officials and the official western media did not care about Palestinian human rights,” he added.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said that as part of the hostage-prisoner exchange deal, about 600 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released from Israeli prisons.

Most of the prisoners set for release were arrested from the Gaza Strip after Oct. 7, 2023, it said. Others include 50 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and 60 prisoners with high sentences.

Six hostages are expected to be released by Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades today, according to a Telegram post by Abu Obeida, a senior Hamas official.

Their names are: Elia Maimon Yitzhak Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Finkert, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, Hisham Al-Sayed. Mengistu and Al-Sayed had entered the Gaza Strip more than a decade ago and have been held there since.

Netanyahu’s office confirmed yesterday it had received the list.

Human remains returned by Hamas to Israel on Friday are those of hostage Shiri Bibas, her family said Saturday, two days after the Palestinian militant group returned the wrong body.

“Last night, our Shiri was returned home,” the Bibas family said in a statement Saturday local time through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, a group that represents the families of those in Hamas captivity.

“Following the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, we received this morning the news we had dreaded — our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family for rest,” the family said.

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