INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
came early Sunday as military vehicles that normally move in advance of the buses carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison,
only to turn around and go back in.The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just
after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday
One woman was shown walking away in tears.Five of the six hostages freed Saturday had been escorted by masked, armed militants in front of a
have yet to be released watching a handover in Gaza on Saturday and speaking under duress.The six were the last living hostages expected to
taken while visiting family in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct
7, 2023, attack that triggered the 16-month war in Gaza
The two others were held for a decade after entering Gaza on their own.Five were handed over in staged ceremonies
In one, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen were posed alongside Hamas fighters
A beaming Shem Tov, acting under duress, kissed two militants on the head and blew kisses to the crowd
50 days and lost 17 kilograms (37 pounds).Earlier Saturday, Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, were freed
Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, entered Gaza in 2014
His family told Israeli media he has struggled with mental health issues
said Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was released
The Bedouin Israeli entered Gaza in 2015
delay in releasing prisoners
mother abducted with her two young boys
The remains were determined to be those of a Palestinian woman
body handed over on Friday was Bibas
Chen Kugel, head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, said they found no evidence Bibas and her children were killed in an
Israeli airstrike, as Hamas has claimed.Kugel did not give a cause.Hamas denied the Israeli military claim, based on forensic evidence and
and most devastating fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, but there are fears the war will resume
without a lasting ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
Netanyahu, with the backing of U.S
hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.An Israeli official had said Netanyahu would meet with security advisers on Saturday
of anonymity because the meeting had not been formally announced.Freed hostages bring relief and a sign of lifeWenkert, Cohen, Shoham and
Naama Weinberg, cousin of deceased hostage Itay Svirsky
David and Guy Gilboa Dallal, as they sat in a vehicle and spoke under duress at the handover for Shem Tov, Cohen and Wenkert
be freed include 151 serving life or other sentences for attacks against Israelis
include Nael Barghouti, who spent over 45 years in prison for an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver.Also meant to be released are 445
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire
7 attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians
