Israel delays release of Palestinian prisoners – DW – 02/23/2025

Chen Kugel, the head of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, provided information regarding the deaths of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young children, Ariel and Kfir.   

“We have identified the remains of Shiri Bibas, two days after identifying her children, Ariel and Kfir. Our examination found no evidence of injuries caused by [a] bombing,” Kugel said in video remarks. 

Shiri Bibas, along with Ariel and Kfir, were taken hostage in the October 7 terror attacks by on Israel. Hamas has claimed that they were killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip. 

The Israeli military has said Ariel and Kfir Bibas “were murdered by terrorists in cold blood.” The Bibas family has also said that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were murdered, but asked that the manner of the death not be shared publicly.

Yarden Bibas is the husband of Shiri and the father of Ariel and Kfir. He was kidnapped separately from his family members and later released alive during the first round of the Gaza ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. 

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it will delay the release of the next group of Palestinian prisoners who were due for release on Saturday. 

As per the first round of the Gaza ceasefire deal, Hamas is supposed to release groups of hostages from Gazain exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel. 

Netanyahu’s office said the release of Palestinian prisoners is postponed “until the release of the next hostages is guaranteed, and without the humiliating ceremonies.”

Hamas has paraded Israeli hostages in Gaza to Palestinian onlookers several times before handing them to the Red Cross, with the Red Cross then bringing the Israelis back to Israel. The ceremony has been condemned in Israel and by the UN.

Hamas earlier in the day released six Israeli hostages. Israel was supposed to release 620 Palestinian prisoners in exchange, but they were never released. 

The delay of the Palestinian prisoners’ release could endanger the fragile ceasefire between the two sides. 

The militant group Hamas reacted to Israel’s delay in releasing Palestinian prisoners in return for the earlier handover of six Israeli hostages. 

“The [Israeli] occupation’s failure to comply with the release of the seventh batch of prisoners in the exchange deal at the agreed-upon time constitutes a blatant violation of the agreement,” Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Al-Qanou said in a statement, accusing Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “procrastination and stalling tactics.”

Hamas said it had informed mediators Egypt and Qatar about the delay. The militant group warned that Israel would no longer find mediators for the conflict if it violated the agreement and refused to release the prisoners.

Israel did not initially explain the reasons for the delay. Sources told media outlets that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to hold security consultations on how to proceed before the release.

Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinians who were to be freed on Saturday under the terms of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, the news agencies AFP and AP report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to hold a security consultation in the evening to make a decision on their release, according to a security official cited by the AFP.

Six Israeli hostages were released from Gaza earlier on Saturday under the ceasefire deal.

Now, some 620 Palestinians held by Israel are expected to be freed. The release includes 151 people who were serving life or other sentences for violent attacks against Israelis, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office.

“Once [Netanyahu’s] security consultation concludes, a decision will be made regarding the next steps” of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, one Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Police in Germany evacuated an apartment building in connection with a suspected planned attack on Israel’s embassy in Berlin.

A police spokeswoman said a suspicious object was removed from the building in the eastern city of Potsdam, near the German capital.

The spokeswoman said the object would be neutralized in a separate location. 

The search came one day after an 18-year-old Russian national, believed to originate from Chechnya, was detained at Berlin Brandenburg Airport as he attempted to leave the country. 

Security sources have told DPA news agency that the man is suspected of wanting to join the “Islamic State” group and of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin.

Police have not confirmed whether the apartment being searched was the man’s home.

The Israeli military says the sixth and final hostage being released as part of the latest exchange has been transferred to the Red Cross.

The hostage is believed to be Hisham Al-Sayed, a Bedouin Israeli with a history of mental illness.

The 36-year-old had been held by Hamas militants since crossing into Gaza about 10 years ago.

Unlike the other five hostages freed on Saturday, who were handed over during staged ceremonies in Gaza in front of a crowd of onlookers, the sixth hostage was delivered privately.

In return, 602 Palestinians were expected to be released by Israel later on Saturday.

Another three hostages have been freed by Hamas and transferred to Red Cross representatives in Nuseirat in central Gaza.

Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were brought onto a stage in front of a crowd before being driven away in Red Cross vehicles. 

Cheers erupted from what has become known as ‘Hostages Square’ in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of Israelis gathered to watch the release live on a big screen.

The handover in Nuseirat came after two hostages were released separately in southern Gaza earlier Saturday.

A sixth hostage, 36-year-old Hisham al-Sayed, was set to be released later in the day. 

The six men are the last living hostages to be released under the first phase of a fragile truce deal between Israel and Hamas.

In exchange, Israel is set to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.

The families of Avera Mengistu and Tal Shahom, the first two Israeli hostages to be released by Hamas on Saturday, have voiced their relief.

The two men have arrived back in Israel after being handed over to Red Cross representatives in Rafah.

“This is an unforgettable moment, where all emotions are rapidly mixing together,” Shoham’s family said of his return.

The 40-year-old, who also holds Austrian citizenship, was among the more than 250 people abducted during the Hamas-led terror attack on Israel in October 2023.

His family also called for a deal to be reached to secure the release of all remaining Israeli hostages.

“There is a window of opportunity; we must not miss it,” they said.

Mengistu, a 39-year-old Israeli-Ethiopian, was kidnapped after crossing into Gaza of his own accord in 2014.

“Our family has endured 10 years and five months of unimaginable suffering,” his family said in a statement. “We gather in anxious anticipation of the return of our beloved son, brother and uncle Avera.”

The Israeli military said the two hostages released by Hamas on Saturday morning have crossed from Gaza into Israel.

“A short while ago, accompanied by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and ISA (Israel Security Agency) forces, the two returning hostages crossed the border into Israeli territory,” the military said on social media.

It added that the pair would soon undergo an initial medical assessment.

Earlier, Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu were brought out onto a stage by masked Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah before being handed over to the Red Cross.

They were then transferred to soldiers from the IDF and ISA to continue into Israeli territory.

Palestinian militant group Hamas has released two Israeli hostages in Rafah, southern Gaza.

A live TV broadcast showed Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39, being handed over to representatives from the Red Cross. 

Shoham was taken from the community of Kibbutz Beeri during the Hamas-led terror attack on Israel in October 2023.

Mengistu had been held in Gaza since crossing into the territory around a decade ago. 

Hamas, which is classified as a terror group by the US, the EU, Germany and others, is set to hand over four more hostages in Nuseirat, central Gaza.

Footage showed masked Hamas militants gathering at the two locations.

The family of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has issued a statement saying that experts at Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine have positively identified her body.

“This morning we received the news we feared the most. Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family to rest,” it said.

“Despite our fears about their fate, we continued to hope that we would get to embrace them, and now we are in pain and heartbroken.”

Shiri Bibas was kidnapped along with her two young children in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

On Thursday, Hamas handed over four bodies as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel. It said they were that of Shiri Bibas, her children and an elderly hostage. But Israeli authorities later said the fourth body did not belong to Shiri Bibas.

Hamas handed over new remains on Friday, and they were confirmed as belonging to Bibas early Saturday.

Israel is preparing to receive six more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.

The six Israelis are due to be handed over at around 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Saturday.

They are the last living hostages from a group of 33 to be released as part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal agreed last month.

Four of the hostages — Eliya Cohen, 27, Tal Shoham, 40, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 — were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants during the terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hamas is also expected to release Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Avera Mengistu, 39, who have been held captive since crossing into Gaza on their own around a decade ago.

In return, Israel is to free 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in its jails.

Hamas has also said it will release the bodies of four more hostages next week.

The body handed over by Hamas on Friday has been identified as belonging to Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, the Nir Oz kibbutz said in a statement.

The statement said she was killed in Gaza after being kidnapped with her two children during the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.

Nir Oz lies close to the Gaza Strip, and many of its residents were killed or taken hostage during the Hamas massacre.

“Kibbutz Nir Oz announces with deep pain and sorrow the murder of Shiri Bibas, of blessed memory, who was abducted from her home on October 7 and killed in captivity in Gaza,” the statement read.

“She will be laid to rest in Israel alongside with her two young sons,” it added. 

The statement comes after Hamas said it handed over the body of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.

On Thursday, Hamas handed over the remains of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel, along with the 83-year-old journalist Oded Lifshitz.

Hamas also claimed to have handed over Shiri Bibas’ remains then, but Israel later identified that body as belonging to an unknown Palestinian woman from Gaza. The Israeli military called this a “very serious violation” of the Gaza ceasefire deal currently in place.  

This blog brings you the latest from the conflict in Gaza and the wider Middle East region. 

On Saturday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas is due to release six Israeli hostages held in Gaza since its terror attacks on October 7, 2023. 

There are hopes that the hostages’ release will save a flimsy ceasefire that was on the verge of collapse on Friday, when the Israeli military said that one of the four bodies returned from Gaza is not Shiri Bibas, as Hamas militants claimed.

Hamas suggested that a mix-up of the remains may have occurred, and later claimed to have handed over Bibas’ remains to the Red Cross. Israel was looking into the claims.

Also on Saturday, the World Health Organization is due to resume a polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, this time targeting over half a million children.