PARIS, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – Eight Israeli hostages, including six women aged between 21 and 41, were released by Hamas on Thursday, according to accounts given by their relatives to AFP, information from the Israeli press and the Hostage Families Forum.
The truce agreement between Israel and Hamas stipulates that a minimum of 10 Israeli hostages should be released alive each day.
The release of two Russian-Israeli women in addition to 10 others a day earlier made up for the fact that only eight Israelis were released Thursday, a source close to Hamas said.
Israel released 30 more Palestinian prisoners on Thursday night.
Since the truce began on November 24, 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners have been released.
More than 20 foreigners, most of them Thais living in Israel, have been freed outside the scope of the agreement.
The eight hostages released by Hamas on Thursday are:
– Aicha and Bilal al-Zayadna –
Bilal al-Zayadna, 18, and his younger sister Aicha, 17, were abducted on October 7 along with their father Youssef and older brother Hamza, 22, from Kibbutz Holit, where they were helping to harvest olives.
The family, originally from Rahat, a town in Israel’s Negev desert region, worked as agricultural labourers.
Shortly after the attack, the farm manager told their family that CCTV had filmed Aicha and her father being escorted away by armed men.
– Mia Shem –
French-Israeli Mia Shem, 21, was at the Tribe of Nova music festival on Saturday, October 7 with her friend 27-year-old Elya Toledano, also French-Israeli, who is still captive.
Trying to escape, they discovered that the tyres of their cars had been punctured.
“They’re shooting at us, come and help us”, she texted a friend shortly after 07:00 am (0500 GMT) that day.
The young woman, who was wounded in the arm, was the first hostage to appear in a video broadcast by Hamas on October 16.
Shem, who works in a tattoo parlour, is the fourth French-Israeli to be freed, after Eitan Yahalomi and siblings Erez and Sahar Kalederon — all teenagers — were released Monday.
– Shani Goren –
Shani Goren, who suffers from panic attacks, was on the telephone with her sister-in-law when the assailants took her hostage from her home.
The Uruguayan-Israeli national was born and raised the youngest of three siblings in Nir Oz, southern Israel. Her two parents, who live separately on the kibbutz, escaped the attack.
She works with children as an educational counsellor.
– Sapir Cohen –
Sapir Cohen, 29, was abducted with her Russian-Israeli partner Sasha Trupanov, 28, in Nir Oz, where they were visiting Sasha’s family.
The couple had recently moved to Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv.
Their friends were able to identify Sapir in a video posted on social networks.
Sasha’s mother and grandmother, who were also taken hostage, were released on Wednesday, outside the agreement between Israel and Hamas, thanks to direct exchanges with Moscow.
Sasha, whose father died in the attack, is still held in Gaza.
– Ilana Gritzewsky –
Ilana Gritzewsky, a 30-year-old Israeli-Mexican, was abducted from her home in Nir Oz. She had taken refuge with her partner Matan Zangauker, 24, in their bedroom — the safe room in their house — before being dislodged by the attackers.
Zangauker, who is also thought to be a hostage, has not yet been released.
Originally from Cancun in eastern Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Gritzewsky immigrated to Israel in the late 2000s. Her parents later joined her there.
– Amit Soussana –
Feeling feverish, Amit Soussana, 40, was at her home, where she lives alone, when kibbutz Kfar Aza was stormed by armed men on October 7.
She told her family shortly after 10:00 am (0800 GMT) that she was going to hide in a cupboard in her safe room and that her phone had been disconnected.
Her status as a hostage was not confirmed until three weeks later.
Soussana is a lawyer specialising in intellectual property, owns three cats, enjoys playing tennis and listening to rock music.
– Nili Margalit –
Nili Margalit, a 41-year-old paediatric nurse at Soroka hospital in central Israel, used her skills to help other hostages in the Gaza tunnels, according to Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage in his 80s who was freed in October.
Margalit was captured at her home in Nir Oz. Holed up in her safe room with her dog Natchy-Natch, she had been communicating with friends by text message, before ceasing communication shortly after 09:00 am (0700 GMT).
Her house was burned to the ground, making it difficult to confirm her abduction, which was verified weeks later.
Her father, Eliyahu Margalit, is still being held captive.
