Hamas delivers 2 Israeli hostages to Red Cross amid military display
Shafaq News/ On Saturday, Hamas handed over two Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team at a designated delivery platform in Gaza, amid a large public gathering and a significant military display.
The two hostages released were Tel Shuham—captured on October 7—and Avira Mangsto, who had been held by Hamas for ten years. Avira, an Israeli citizen of African nationality, appeared visibly exhausted at the time of his release.
At the site of the seventh batch of prisoner and detainee exchanges in the Gaza Strip, Hamas displayed new messages directed at Israel. One prominent banner, featuring the Palestinian flag and a clenched fist, read, "Take off your shoes, for every inch of this land is stained with the blood of martyrs." Another banner below quoted a line from Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqi, "And for the red freedom, every resounding hand strikes at its door," a phrase frequently echoed by Yahya Sinwar. Additional signs on the platform proclaimed, "We are the flood... We are the ultimate strength," referencing the October 7 operation known as "Al-Aqsa Flood."
Hamas confirmed that it has released six Israeli hostages—the final surviving hostages scheduled for handover to Israel before March 1, marking the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which took effect on January 19. In return, the Palestinian Prisoners Club announced that 602 Palestinian detainees, including 50 serving life sentences, have been released. Additionally, 108 of the detainees are slated for relocation outside Palestinian territories.
Since the onset of the ceasefire, Israel has received 22 hostages—including three fatalities—in exchange for the release of more than 1,100 Palestinian detainees. Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which concludes on March 1, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages (eight of whom have been killed) in return for Israel releasing 1,900 Palestinian detainees from its prisons.
Last Wednesday, Hamas declared its readiness to release all remaining hostages in a single batch during the second phase of the agreement, originally scheduled to begin on March 2. However, indirect negotiations for this phase—intended to definitively end the war—have been delayed amid mutual accusations of ceasefire violations.
The third and final phase is expected to focus on the reconstruction of Gaza, where residents continue to live amid rubble and bitter cold in the aftermath of widespread destruction.
The October 7, 2023, attack resulted in 1,214 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s count based on official data, which includes hostages who were killed or died while in captivity. Devastating Israeli strikes have claimed at least 48,319 lives in Gaza—predominantly civilians—according to figures from Hamas’s Ministry of Health, a source deemed reliable by the United Nations, contributing to an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory.
