Hamas releases 2 of 6 Israeli hostages in latest exchange

Rafah (Gaza Strip), Feb 22 (AP) Hamas handed over to the Red Cross the first two of six Israeli hostages due to be freed Saturday under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

The two hostages — Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39 — were put into Red Cross ambulances after being brought out onto a stage by masked and armed Hamas fighters in front of a crowd in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The ambulances then headed toward a nearby crossing into Israel.

Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, had been held in Gaza since entering on his own in 2014. Watching the handover on Israeli media, Mengistu's family broke out into a Hebrew song, “Here is the Light,” as they saw him for the first time in more than a decade.

Shoham, from the northern Israeli village of Ma'ale Tzviya, was visiting his wife's family in Kibbutz Be'eri when Hamas militants stormed into the community during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

Shoham's family told Israeli media they were “starting to breathe again” after seeing him on the stage. Shoham's wife, two young children, and three other relatives who had been abducted with him were freed in a November 2023 exchange. (AP)