We begin with dramatic new images of the hostages released by Hamas these images were put out a short time ago they show Hamas Fighters with their faces covered delivering Israeli hostages to the Red Cross most of the captives appear to be able to walk on their own at least one
Elderly woman was carried by Hamas fighter to a red cross vehicle the group numbers 24 people including 10 Thai Nationals and one person from the Philippines 133 Israeli women and children were among the freed Israel says it has released 39 Palestinians held in its jails that includes 24 women and 15 teenagers some
Were convicted by Israel of attempted murder for attacks on Israeli forces some were jailed for offenses such as throwing stones this was the scene outside an Israeli military prison near rala 33 of the 30 9 were freed in the West Bank and transferred to the Red Cross the remaining six were being freed
From a Jerusalem facility journalist iris mackler is following developments she joins us live now from Tel Aviv so Iris what do we know about uh the Israeli hostages in terms of where they are now and and where they’re going they are on their way to hospital um and that’s a precautionary measure
And also because they’ve spent so long seven weeks 49 days you know most of it below ground if if um if the Israeli suppositions are correct so they are to be treated before they and then they will meet their families and then they will be able to I guess if they’re
Well enough resume life or start the new life because as you know there’s three sets of families amongst them so four small children the youngest very small two or three years old uh there are older women one of whom by the way Andrew was reported by Islam Jihad who
Said they were holding her and also said she died in an Israeli air strike and I think that just gives you a feeling for how much the these um hostages are seen as bargaining chips um and part of a Sops the psychological game that Hamas can play with um with Israel you know
Part of the war definitely uh and so they will now be taken in to care it’s interesting I I heard an interview with and then spoke myself to someone who’d been a child hostage at anbe you remember that 1970 dramatic rescue um of a a plane in in Uganda uh and he said
He’s never been the same since you know and he wasn’t held for so long so there’s lots of recovery work ahead uh tonight about to reach an Israeli hospital I think some of the Israeli people I’ve spoken to here tonight were quite shocked by that Hamas video seeing
It as propaganda seeing them presenting themselves as caring putting their arms around uh some of the hostages although I have to say when I looked at some of those hostages they did look pretty frightened yeah I mean and we just want to let our viewers know that that’s what they’re
Looking at this is from hamas’s militant uh Wing we are showing the images that they have uh provided uh but of course it was on October 7th people will remember that these people in and the hostages released today raging an age from 2 to 85 they were taken hostage
1,200 people were killed on that day on October 7th and now 13 have been uh released 13 Israelis have been released now almost half of the hostages being released today though are taii part of a separate uh deal what can you tell us about them yes you know there’s been
Because they’re Tha Nationals um some of them were here working in fact one of them was working as a carer um they were all working I thought all of them were Farm Workers but then one of the people from kibuts near o where many of these rescued the rescued Israelis are from he
Was there working as a carer for their father and they said they greeted his release with great joy and they hope he can be reunited with his family their father has been killed and this carer was taken hostage and today he’s been released so they are workers um most of
Them agricultural workers some of them carers uh and it was it was separately negotiated originally there was talk of the Thai government and Iran being involved but in the end it seemed from what we’ve heard uh Egypt is taking credit and saying they were the ones who
Were responsible for this deal it was a separate track of negotiation alt together and I have to say because I didn’t expect it and I know many people here were shocked also it was a great joy um to see an extra 11 people freed today that no one expected to see freed
And and what do we know about the Palestinian detainees that were held in Israel who are returning to the West Bank we know that uh many of them are women I’ve seen a very moving account of someone on Twitter saying it’s so great to greet the love of your life so there
Were 39 women and youths uh and they were being released most of them to the West Bank some of them to Jerusalem that’s where they’re from none of them are from Gaza so they’re not going back to Gaza it’s interesting because there were joyfill scenes in Palestinian towns
And I must say what really struck me was how many Hamas flags were in that crowd so you know if aim of all of this was um the destruction of Hamas I’m not sure that that’s working as an idea it might work as a as a destruction of
Infrastructure that was Israel’s aim uh in in Gaza but you can see that the idea of Hamas and and the release of these Prisoners has led to to um celebrations of Hamas and yeah we’re just showing you some of the uh the names of uh those who
Have uh been released it included a number of women and number of uh those under 18 uh years old we’re just showing that on our screen uh right now and so uh Iris before we let you go though we want to just get a sense you’re in Tel
Aviv just you tell us I mean this this moment you know 57 weeks uh later I mean how would you describe it I would describe it as the one moment of joy release since October the 7th October the 7th was a brutal experience for Israelis uh if you’re if you haven’t
Seen the video of what what was shot actually by Hamas themselves with their GoPro cameras then I think you’re a lucky person it’s indelible memories of horror of torture and horror and I think the impact of that plus then the war plus the hostage taking has been has
Been very um difficult for Israelis I think they’re still in recovery actually and so the joy of this I know it’s not all the hostages I know it’s only the first lot of the first 50 but this feeling that people are coming home and that they include such small children as
Well as such old women um I think is a is a moment of likeness and I have to just say if you think about Gaza the thought of the guns falling silent after 49 48 days uh of of the kind of air strikes they’ve lived through I think
That’s a wonderful thing for Gaza too
New footage shows Hamas militants releasing 24 hostages on Friday, while Israel freed the first group of 39 Palestinians detained in its prisons as part of the temporary truce agreement.
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