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The current hostage-prisoner exchange by Hamas and Israel will be the final one in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. The six Israelis who are set to be freed are: Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed, Tal Shoham and Averu Mengistu.
Hamas handed over two Israeli hostages to the Red Cross. Tal Shoham and Averu Mengistu were paraded on stage before they were handed over to the Red Cross officials.
Two Israeli hostages, Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu, are now being released by Hamas.
Four more hostages are to be freed later today. pic.twitter.com/ASwdbZRPJm
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) February 22, 2025
The convoy carrying the freed Israeli hostages departed the ceremony and the hostages are now in the military's custody in the Gaza Strip.
Israel will release 600 Palestinian prisoners taken from Gaza since October 7.
In Tel Aviv, many gathered at the site called 'Hostages Square' where they watched the broadcast of the release.
On Thursday, Hamas had released the bodies of four Israeli hostages which included the Bibas children. After examination, Israel accused Hamas of "a very serious violation" of the ceasefire; which began on January 19 and will expire early March, since one of the bodies released of the four hostages was not of Shiri Bibas - the mother of the two Bibas children.
However, the body was returned to Israel and testing confirmed that it is the mother of the Bibas children.
"After the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, this morning we received the news we feared the most. Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family to rest," the Bibas family said in a statement.
Since the October 7 attack that snowballed the war, 1215 people in Israel have died, and Israel's retaliatory attack has resulted in the deaths of 48,319 people in Gaza according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.