The Israeli-Hamas Connection for the Release of Thai Hostages in Gaza During the Oct. 7, 2023 Israel-Haifa Attack
The exchange is part of a multiphase deal between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, that began Jan. 19, with a six-week ceasefire. 33 of the remaining hostages in Gaza are supposed to be returned to Israel in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainers, but a few of them are thought to be dead.
The eight captives that are expected to be freed next were kidnapped during the surprise attack on southern Israel that started the war. Approximately 1,200 people were killed during the assault and another 250 were taken hostage, according to the Israeli government.
The family of David’s brother, as well as Ms. Yehud’s partner, Ariel Cunio, were kidnapped. David Cunio, his wife Sharon, and their two children were freed along with more than 100 other hostages in November 2023. The Israeli military said that Dolev Yehud was killed in the attack. Ariel and David Cunio remain in Gaza.
The Thai hostages had been working in Israel as agricultural laborers when they were taken hostage along with the others in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Some of the people Israel has declared dead, include three more Thai laborers, two from Nepal, and one from Tanzania.
Ms. Berger, a young military conscript, was abducted during Hamas’s assault on Nahal Oz, the military base where she served as a lookout. Four of the other lookouts taken hostage during the attack were released on Saturday.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, confirmed in a phone interview that the five Thai workers would be released on Thursday. The Thai workers were being held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, he said, referring to a smaller militant group in Gaza distinct from Hamas.
The freed Israeli hostages are expected to be released from Israeli prisons later in the day. Among them are prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, including Sami Jaradat, sentenced for orchestrating one of the deadliest attacks of the Second Intifada — a 2003 suicide bombing on a beachfront restaurant in Haifa that killed 21 people. Most serving life sentences are set to be deported to other countries in the region.
Berger, an Israeli soldier with green fatigues, was handed over to the Red Cross in the northern Gaza city of Jabalia, after being paraded on a stage and dressed like a soldier.
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza handed over Arbel Yehoud, Agam Berger, and Gadi Mozes to Israeli troops on Thursday morning for the drive across the border into Israel.
Finally, around 7 p.m., a chain of buses arrived carrying dozens of Palestinian prisoners, including some who had been convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. The 67 prisoners who arrived in Ramallah on Thursday include 27 children. Nineteen of them arrived in Jerusalem and Gaza and 20 were sent to Egypt.
An Israeli prisoner’s friend whose life was killed by drone strikes in Israel had been released by the Israeli army for escaping from an Israeli prison
There was a group of people waiting, dressed in black, in order to honor the son of their friend who was killed by an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank.
She waited for her husband, a former militant turned theater director who was jailed by Israeli forces in 2019. He became well known in both Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2019 for briefly escaping an Israeli prison.
After Mr. Zubeidi was released, the crowd shouted his name and hoisted him onto their shoulders.
Standing outside a government recreation center, people restlessly checked their phones for news or fielded calls from loved ones who were anxious for updates.
The crowd was warm in the winter air, but it was cold when she stood among them. She said that the day had come and she was in disbelief. Her brother, after spending more than 20 years in an Israeli prison, was being released.