Six freed hostages reunite with families, head to hospital for treatment

Eliya Cohen was 26 when Hamas terrorists abducted him from the Nova Music Festival on October 7 2023 - now, over a year later, his family await his release as part of phase one of an incoming hostage-ceasefire deal.

Eliya was enjoying the festival with his partner Ziv, her nephew, and her nephew’s girlfriend when Hamas invaded. Hearing sirens, the pair fled to a shelter which was later renamed the “death shelter” as Hamas murdered most of the occupants. While Eliya was abducted, Ziv avoided detection by hiding under the dead bodies of partygoers for six hours. 

Ziv’s nephew and his partner were killed in the death shelter.

Freed hostage, Avera Mengistu, accompanied by members of his family, is currently making his way on an Israeli Air Force helicopter to the hospital, where he will be reunited with other members of his family and will receive medical treatment.

Hostage Hisham Al-Sayed will be released from Gaza City by himself and without a ceremony, Israeli media reported on Saturday, citing Palestinian media.

Security officials say the decision to change the location and not hold a ceremony are due to Al-Sayed's medical condition.

Several senior Hamas leaders from the West Bank and several prisoners who were rearrested after being released in the Shalit deal are expected to be among the hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners to be released on Saturday in exchange for six Israeli hostages, Army Radio reported.

Among those who will be released are 47 prisoners rearrested after being freed in the Gilad Shalit deal, 50 who were supposed to be serving life sentences, and 60 that sentenced to long prison terms, according to Army Radio.

The Israeli hostages being released in exchange are Avera Mengistu, Eliya Cohen, Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Tal Shoham.

In exchange, Israel will release senior Hamas officials such as Salama Qatawi. Another terrorist to be released is Abd al-Nasser Issa, a student of Hamas bombmaker and engineer Yahya Ayash, who was credited with advancing the technique of suicide bombings used by Palestinian terrorists. Issa himself was responsible for two suicide bombings, according to KAN.

Tal Shoham is expected to be one of the hostages set for release in the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal. Shoham, a 39-year-old Israeli with Austrian and Italian citizenship, was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 along with eight other members of his extended family. This included Shoshan Haran, 67; Avshalom Haran, 66; Lilach Lea Kipnis, 60; Adi Shoham, 38; Naveh Shoham, 8; Yahel Gani Shoham, 3; Sharon Avigdori, 52; and Noam Avigdori, 12. 

Shoham was visiting Be’eri for the holiday of Simchat Torah, with his wife and children on October 7, because his wife had grown up there. 

Shoham’s wife and children were also taken captive by Hamas and held together but separately from Tal. His wife, Adi, and children, Naveh and Yahel, now aged 9 and 4, were released in the first hostage deal on November 25, 2023, after 50 days. 

Among the 33 names of captives set to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Hamas is Avera Mengistu. Unlike the majority of those listed, Mengistu was not abducted on October 7, 2023, but has spent 11 years in Hamas captivity.

Mengistu, an Israeli Jew of Ethiopian descent, was said to have been suffering from mental illness when he crossed the border into the Gaza Strip on September 7, 2014. Born in Ethiopia, he immigrated to Israel at the age of five with his family as part of Operation Solomon. He grew up in Ashkelon with his eight brothers and sisters. After his older brother, Michael, suffered from anorexia and died at the age of 29, his mental state deteriorated and he began to conduct long marches alone throughout Israel.

The now-38-year-old was 28 years old when he crossed into northern Gaza after having a fight with his mother, according to Human Rights Watch. Hamas claims that he is a soldier, a claim disputed by both Human Rights Watch and his family.

Hostages Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham will be released in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Al-Arabiya reported on Saturday.

The release of the other hostages will also take place from another location in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Strip. The other hostages set to be released on Saturday are Eliya Cohen, Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert, and Omer Shem Tov.

This marks the first time in the deal that hostages will be released in the refugee camp and in southern Gazan city. The IDF estimates that they will be returned at 9 a.m.