Hamas launched three extra Israeli hostages on Saturday as a part of an alternate for Palestinian prisoners, in a extremely theatrical handover by which the boys have been made to offer speeches successfully at gunpoint.
The hostage launch is the fifth in a tense collection of exchanges which might be a part of a 42-day cease-fire deal that went into impact final month pausing the combating between Israel and Hamas. Hamas agreed to incrementally launch 33 of the practically 100 remaining hostages in alternate for greater than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal.
Right here’s a better have a look at the Israelis launched on Saturday:
Ohad Ben Ami
Mr. Ben Ami, who was 54 when he was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, was the kibbutz’s accountant and is an avid bike owner. His spouse, Raz Ben Ami, was additionally taken hostage however was launched within the first cease-fire deal in November 2023. Mr. Ben Ami is a twin Israeli and German citizen.
“The one vital factor is for Ohad to return again,” Raz Ben Ami informed The New York Occasions in August, including: “It’s nonetheless onerous for me to think about our life after this.”
Ella Ben Ami, one of many couple’s three daughters, was a vocal advocate for a cease-fire deal. She was crucial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s choice to talk in Congress in July, saying he mustn’t journey overseas till there was an settlement to free the hostages. A video posted on social media in August, confirmed Ms. Ben Ami close to the border with Gaza calling her father’s identify with a microphone in hand and saying she missed him.
In December, on Mr. Ben Ami’s second birthday in captivity, his household marked the day with a bike experience and a ceremony, in line with his brother, Kobi, who informed Israeli information media that round 200 folks joined them as they rode alongside a bicycle path created to commemorate 11 cyclists killed on Oct. 7 and hostages, together with Mr. Ben Ami. He stated the household had not obtained any indicators he was alive since he was captured.
Or Levy
Mr. Levy was 33 when he was taken hostage. His spouse, Eynav Levy, died on Oct. 7. Their son, who was simply two on the time, was with Ms. Levy’s mom whereas his mother and father went to the Nova music competition, an occasion held only a few miles from the Gaza border that was a key goal of the assault.
Mr. Levy texted his mom in the course of the assault, together with from a shelter that was stormed by the militants. The Israeli army later knowledgeable the household that Ms. Levy’s physique was discovered within the shelter and that Mr. Levy was being held in Gaza.
The couple each labored in tech and lived close to Tel Aviv. Mr. Levy’s older brother, Michael Levy, spoke about his youthful brother’s dire state of affairs at an occasion in California in March, one in every of many journeys he made all over the world to press for a hostage deal. On the time, he stated he had not obtained indications his brother was lifeless however was not very optimistic a couple of deal.
Eli Sharabi
Mr. Sharabi was additionally kidnapped from Be’eri, and his spouse and their two daughters have been killed within the assault.
His brother Yossi was additionally taken as a hostage to Gaza, the place he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the Israeli army later informed his household.
His brother, Sharon, stated in December that information of progress on a cease-fire deal had prompted “new hope among the many households of hostages that they could see their family members once more — and on the identical time, rigidity.”
“We misplaced 4 folks,” he stated. “We don’t intend to fill a fifth coffin.”