The procedure resembled previous handovers of hostages. Heavily armed and masked Hamas members escorted the hostages to the Red Cross.
In Saturday's handover – in exchange for over 600 Palestinian prisoners – two people who had been hostages for a decade were included. The mentally ill Avera Mengistu, now nearly 40 years old, was arrested by Hamas when he voluntarily entered Gaza on his own. He was then held captive there.
But on Saturday, Mengistu's anxious family could receive him with joyful singing.
Operation Solomon
Mengistu's fate is an example of the region's modern history. As a child, he was among the many Jewish Ethiopians who were flown out of Ethiopia in a secret Israeli operation called Solomon. The Jewish population was threatened by unrest in the country – and the rescue operation was one of the largest in modern times.
Mengistu grew up in poor conditions in Israel – but no one knows exactly why he went to the border with Gaza and climbed over the fence despite Israeli soldiers firing warning shots.
Hamas arrested him on the spot, claiming that he was wearing a uniform and was of sound mind. It was autumn 2014, and since then, his relatives have been appealing for his return.
Released Bedouin
On Saturday, the 36-year-old Muslim Bedouin Hisham al-Sayed was also released, who, according to his relatives, suffers from severe schizophrenia. In the spring of 2015, he entered the Gaza Strip. Hamas captured him and released him without ceremony ten years later to Israel and waiting relatives.
Among those released on Saturday was Tal Shoham, an Israeli-Austrian citizen, who was taken hostage when he visited his wife in the kibbutz Be'eri in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Shoham's 40-year-old wife and two small children were released in an early exchange later that year.
A few hours later, three people, all in their 20s, were released in Nuseirat. The three – Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Eliya Cohen – participated in the Nova music festival near the border with Gaza when the Islamist extremist group attacked.
Omer Shem Tov gave flying kisses to the crowd and took the opportunity to kiss two Hamas warriors on the head before he and Eliya Cohen, surrounded by heavily armed Hamas members, were led over to the Red Cross vehicles and newfound freedom.
