The hostages were being brought to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula through the Rafah crossing before flying to Hatzerim Airbase near Beersheva.
By JNS
Thirteen Israeli hostages were released on Friday as part of a ceasefire deal, 49 days after Hamas terrorists kidnapped them and some 230 others during the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 people in the northwestern Negev.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office identified the released hostages as: Doron Katz-Asher (34) and Raz (4) and Aviv (2) Asher; Danielle (45) and Emilia (5) Aloni; Ruth (78), Keren (54) and Ohad (9) Monder; Adina Moshe (72), Channa Katzir (76), Margalit Mozes (77), Chana Perry (79) and Yaffa Adar (85).
The 13 are being brought by representatives of the Red Cross from Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula through the Rafah border crossing before flying to Hatzerim Airbase near Beersheva in southern Israel.
LIVE: Rafah crossing as Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire https://t.co/Tnm8neezgm
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 24, 2023
The group was set to return home by Israel Air Force helicopter, which the military outfitted with special blue and pink noise-canceling headphones.
“We just completed the return of the first of our hostages: children, their mothers and additional women. Each of them is an entire world. But I emphasize to you, the families, and to you, citizens of Israel: We are committed to returning all the hostages,” stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is one of the aims of the war and we are committed to achieving all the aims of the war,” Netanyahu added.
“We have a great privilege to be here at this significant moment,” Lt. Col. ‘Yud,’ commander of 118 Squadron, said ahead of the rescue flight. “Today marks the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“היום הוא תחילת האור בקצה המנהרה”:
צה”ל השלים את היערכותו לקליטת החטופים השבים ארצה משטח רצועת
עזהhttps://t.co/L2Bh7NoM0Y pic.twitter.com/epxX27DtGn
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 24, 2023
After arriving at the base, the hostages were set to speak by phone with their families before being transferred to hospitals for medical exams and monitoring. There, they will be reunited with loved ones.
The Health Ministry instructed physicians to carry out exams “sensitively” and document signs of torture, rape or other crimes.
The IDF spokesperson called on the Israeli public to show “patience and sensitivity” and to respect the privacy of the freed captives and their families.
Hamas released the hostages at around 4 p.m., just minutes before Shabbat began at sundown. Jerusalem subsequently freed 39 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails.
In a separate deal, Egypt announced that it had successfully negotiated the release of 12 Thai hostages who were abducted during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught. Bangkok believes 26 of its citizens were taken to Gaza.
A four-day ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization went into effect at 7 a.m. on Friday.
As part of the deal approved by the Israeli Cabinet on Wednesday, Hamas will release 12 to 13 hostages each day of the four-day truce. The release of every additional 10 hostages will result in one additional day in the pause in combat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the IDF Operations Branch Control Center at the Kirya in Tel Aviv on Nov. 24, 2023. Credit: Haim Zach/GPO.
The IDF will refrain from using surveillance drones in Gaza for six hours each day of the ceasefire. Israel will also allow fuel to enter the Strip during that time and dramatically increase the volume of goods permitted into the enclave.
Israel also agreed to commute the sentences of at least 150 female and teenage Palestinian security prisoners, or three terrorists for every hostage that is released. The Palestinian terrorists—many of whom are affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—will be allowed to return to their previous places of residence in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
Hamas had previously released four hostages for what it said were “humanitarian reasons.” Judith Raanan, 59, and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie were freed on Oct. 20. Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, were let go three days later.
IDF special forces late last month also rescued Pvt. Ori Megidish from the Gaza Strip.
Last week, IDF soldiers operating in the vicinity of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City recovered the bodies of Cpl. Noa Marciano, 19, and Yehudit Weiss, 65. Both women were murdered during their captivity.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Thursday that the Jewish state would “complete the victory and create the impetus for the next groups of hostages, who will only come back as a result of pressure.
“I estimate that in the next month or two, at least in December and January, and perhaps longer, there will be intense fighting of the kind we’re currently seeing, and in some places even more,” he said during a visit with the navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit.
Gallant’s remarks echoed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who addressed the nation on Wednesday night and vowed to “continue until we achieve all our objectives.”