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Hamas Releases 2 Israeli Hostages In Latest Transfer

Published

9 months ago

February 22, 2025

Palestinian militants on Saturday freed two Israeli hostages, among the last live captives eligible for release under the first phase of a fragile truce that is also expected to see Palestinian prisoners released.

Freedom for the captives caps an emotional two days in Israel, where the family of another hostage, Shiri Bibas, earlier on Saturday confirmed receipt of her remains.

Bibas and her two young sons had become symbols of the ordeal suffered by Israeli hostages since the Gaza war began.

Palestinian militants seized dozens of captives during their unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered more than 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip.

Militants escorted Tal Shoham and Averu Mengistu onto a stage in Rafah, southern Gaza. Shoham was made to address the gathering, flanked by armed and masked fighters dressed all in black, before both men were handed over to the Red Cross which then drove them away in a convoy.

Israeli security forces took custody of the men and returned them home to Israeli territory, the military said.

In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, hundreds gathered at a site known as ‘Hostages Square’ reacted with applause, some appearing to weep, as they watched a broadcast of the release.

Four other hostages are to be freed on Saturday morning in a separate ceremony in central Gaza.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum had published the names of the six Israelis to be freed. The list included Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert and Hisham al-Sayed as well as Mengistu and Shoham.

Sayed and Mengistu had been held in Gaza for around a decade.

The hostages were freed under the first phase of a ceasefire deal which began on January 19 and is due to expire in early March.

A Hamas source told AFP that the Islamist group planned to also release four hostages from central Gaza’s Nuseirat later in the morning.

– Well-rehearsed ceremony –

At both locations the militants prepared for a now well-rehearsed ceremony, building stages in front of large posters advertising the militants’ cause or praising fallen fighters.

The Red Cross has repeatedly appealed for handovers to take place in a dignified manner.

Under a cold winter rain in Rafah, Hamas staged a show of force after months of bombardment and strikes that killed the group’s top leaders. Some fighters held automatic weapons, others rocket launchers, as nationalistic Palestinian music blared.

Hamas’s green flag flew around the square on buildings destroyed by the war.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said Israel would free 602 inmates on Saturday as part of the exchange.

A spokeswoman for the NGO told AFP that most were Gazans arrested after the war began. She added that some of the prisoners would be deported outside of Israel and the Palestinian territories after their release.

Those expected to be expelled were serving heavy sentences.

The ceasefire has so far seen 21 living Israeli hostages freed from Gaza in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.

Saturday’s release of living hostages followed the first transfer on Thursday of hostages’ bodies.

Hamas had said Shiri Bibas’s remains were among the four bodies returned on Thursday, but Israeli analysis concluded they were not in fact hers, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger.

Hamas then admitted “the possibility of an error or mix-up of bodies”, which it attributed to Israeli bombing of the area.

Late Friday the Red Cross confirmed the transfer of more human remains to Israel “at the request of both parties” but did not say whose they were.

“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.

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — under domestic pressure over his handling of the war and the hostages — vowed to “ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement”.

– ‘No forgiveness’ –

On Friday, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, after an analysis of the remains, that Palestinian militants had killed the Bibas boys, Ariel and Kfir, “with their bare hands” in November 2023.

Hamas has long maintained an Israeli air strike killed them and their mother early in the war.

Shiri’s sister-in-law, Ofri Bibas, said Friday that the family was “not seeking revenge right now”, while levelling a measure of the blame at Netanyahu, telling him there would be “no forgiveness” for abandoning the mother and her young sons.

A fourth body, that of Oded Lifshitz, 83, was also returned Thursday.

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7 attack that sparked the war. There are 65 hostages still in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,215 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,319 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
AFP

Related Topics:Gaza Hamas Israel Israeli

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Return Of Chinese Astronauts Delayed After Space Debris Hits Spacecraft

Published

4 hours ago

November 5, 2025

Editor

The return of three Chinese astronauts to Earth has been postponed indefinitely after their spacecraft was reportedly hit by a small piece of debris, according to Chinese state media.

The astronauts, who are part of the Shenzhou-20 mission, travelled to the Tiangong space station in April and were scheduled to return on Wednesday following a six-month stay. Their replacements, the Shenzhou-21 crew, had already arrived over the weekend.

“The Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft is suspected to have been struck by a small piece of orbital debris, and assessment of the impact and associated risks is currently under way,” the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement.

“To ensure the health and safety of the astronauts and the successful completion of the mission, it has been decided that the originally planned return of Shenzhou-20 on November 5 will be postponed.”

Officials did not specify when the debris incident occurred. Earlier in the week, state media reported that both crews had shared a meal of baked chicken prepared using the station’s first oven, delivered by the Shenzhou-21 team. On Tuesday, videos showed the two teams holding a handover ceremony.

Yu Jun, a science communicator known online as Steed’s Scarf, said that if the spacecraft is deemed unsafe to return, authorities could activate a backup plan.

“Shenzhou-22 and the Long March 2F (launcher) were already on standby. This is our rolling backup mechanism. They are in ‘emergency duty’ mode and ready to bring our astronauts home safely if needed,” Yu told his more than five million followers on Weibo.

China has continued to expand its human spaceflight program, completing 37 flights and six crewed missions so far, with plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

The Shenzhou-20 commander, Chen Dong, holds China’s record for the longest cumulative space time more than 380 days and the highest number of spacewalks, with six.

Chinese astronauts have not joined the International Space Station, a partnership between the US, Russia, Europe, Canada, and Japan, due to a US law preventing NASA from cooperating with China’s space program. Instead, China has said it welcomes international cooperation on its Tiangong space station.

(The Guardian Uk)

Headline

Man Grabs Mexico’s President While Meeting Citizens On The Street

Published

5 hours ago

November 5, 2025

Editor

Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, while meeting citizens in Mexico City was grabbed by a man, prompting concern over presidential security and ongoing harassment faced by women in the country.

A video from Tuesday shows a man, appearing intoxicated, attempting to kiss the president on the neck and holding her from behind.

She quickly removed his hands and turned to face him before an official stepped in and blocked the man.

As he was led away, Sheinbaum was seen smiling slightly and saying, “Don’t worry.” State police later confirmed the man’s arrest.

Commentators said the episode shows that no woman, not even Mexico’s President, is immune to harassment.

“Even if you’re the president, any guy believes he has the right to touch you,” said Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, a journalist with feminist outlet Volcánicas. “When they ask what the patriarchy is, this is it.”

The incident also raised questions about Sheinbaum’s security. Her team was not clearly visible in the footage, and it took several seconds for anyone to react.

It comes days after Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, a popular mayor, was killed during Day of the Dead celebrations in Uruapan, Michoacán.

He was shot seven times at close range before the gunman was killed. Before his death, Manzo Rodríguez had publicly appealed to Mexico’s President for help against local criminal groups.

He is the latest in a series of officials killed in Mexico. During the 2024 election campaign, 37 candidates were murdered, and since Sheinbaum’s government began on 1 October, 10 municipal presidents have also been killed.

While local leaders are often targeted, high-level officials have also faced threats.

In 1994, presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta was assassinated at a rally in Tijuana. In 2020, the Jalisco cartel attempted to kill Omar García Harfuch, Sheinbaum’s current security minister, in a daylight attack in Mexico City.

Sheinbaum herself faced a scare last year during her campaign in Chiapas, when masked men stopped her vehicle to demand action against violence before letting her go.

Like her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s President has preferred to keep close contact with the public and maintain lighter security. But the latest incident may prompt her to reconsider.

“Hopefully [the presidency will press charges], and the president will send a clear message: no man has the right to kiss or touch a woman without her consent,” wrote Alejandra Escobar, editorial director of Ectétera, on X. “May this also serve as an example for [her assistants]: it is not acceptable for her to be so exposed.”

(The Guardian UK)

Headline

Sweden To Charge 18-year-old Over IS Terror Plot

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2025

Editor

The Swedish Prosecution Authority said Tuesday it intended to charge an 18-year-old man for planning a terrorist act in Stockholm on behalf of the Islamic State group.

According to prosecutors, the planning took place between August 2024 and February 2025.

“We believe the purpose of the preparations was to induce serious fear in the population, in the name of the Islamic State. The criminal act could have seriously harmed Sweden,” Deputy Chief Prosecutor Henrik Olin said in a statement.

Prosecutors did not provide details of the plan but said the man was also suspected of “preparation for serious crimes under the act on flammable and explosive goods and training for terrorism”.

Prosecutors said they planned to file the charges on Thursday and that a press conference would be held the same day.

The young man will also be charged alongside a 17-year-old boy with attempted murder in Germany in August 2024.

Both of them are also suspected of “participation in a terrorist organisation,” according to the statement.

The man was arrested in Stockholm on February 11 and has been in custody since then.

AFP