Israelis react as they watch the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas during a live broadcast from hostages square in Tel Aviv. Photo: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday morning as part of the Gaza peace deal brokered by the Trump administration.
The Israeli hostages, most of them civilians, were held in captivity in Gaza for more than two years. Finally, all of the hostages who survived are now free.
- The hostage release started shortly before President Trump landed in Israel, as part of a Middle East trip aimed at cementing his Gaza peace plan.
- Their release was a key Israeli and U.S. demand for ending the war.
Hamas had to release all 20 of the live hostages by Monday noon local time, according to the agreement.
- The first group of seven hostages was released shortly after 8am local time. The hostages were transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross, which delivered them to Israeli forces inside Gaza.
- The other 13 hostages was released two hours later. Before the second group was released, Hamas militants connected them to their families in video calls and asked the families to publish it in the Israeli press.
- The hostages were taken to a military base outside the Gaza Strip to be reunited with their families, and from there to hospitals in Israel to receive medical treatment.
The hostages all spent most of the past two years in underground tunnels, with very little food and water and almost no medical care for the wounds they suffered during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Israeli officials are concerned that many of them may be in very poor health.
“Today, twenty families are spared the unbearable pain of not knowing if they will ever see their loved ones again,” White House envoy Steve Witkoff said in a statement.
- “But even in this moment of relief and happiness, my heart aches for those whose loved ones will not return alive. Bringing their bodies home is a must and an act of dignity and honors their memory forever.”
As part of the agreement, Hamas must also retrieve the bodies of 28 deceased hostages, among them two Americans: Itay Chen and Omer Neutra.
- Hamas claimed during the negotiations that it didn’t know the exact locations of all the bodies of the dead hostages. In some cases, the group says, the militants guarding them were killed, or the bodies were buried under rubble.
- AXIOS