Convoy of Red Cross vehicles arrive in Rafahpublished at 07:14 Greenwich Mean Time
Breaking
Image source, Reuters
A convoy of Red Cross vehicles has just arrived in Rafah in southern Gaza where a number of hostages will be released this morning.
A stage has been set up and crowds of armed and masked Hamas members are gathered at the location.
The scene in Hostages Square in Tel Avivpublished at 07:13 Greenwich Mean Time
Davide Ghiglione
Reporting from Tel Aviv
People are starting to gather now at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, watching live news footage from Gaza on a large screen and waiting anxiously as six living hostages are due to be handed over today from Hamas to Israel as part of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas persists with stage-managed handovers amid criticismpublished at 07:08 Greenwich Mean Time
Sebastian Usher
Middle East analyst
The increasingly stage-managed handovers in Gaza by Hamas of Israeli hostages – both alive and dead – has prompted widespread criticism, with Israel denouncing the events as cruel propaganda
Each week, Hamas fighters and members of other armed factions in various locations across Gaza have lined up in ranks facing a platform with large posters extolling Hamas leaders and denouncing Israel’s.
Red Cross representatives sign papers on the stage with a masked Hamas fighter, who then stamps them before the hostages emerge from a car amid heavily armed fighters and are then conducted up on stage – where they have been made to speak before being transferred into the care of the Red Cross.
Image source, Reuters
This was the moment three Israeli hostages were paraded on stage in central Gaza, before their release earlier this month
Despite the growing criticism, Hamas has persisted with this formula. Its key aim would seem to be to make a show not just of its survival but its ability to still control events to some extent inside Gaza.
The formalities in the process would seem to be intended by Hamas to give the impression that it is not acting as a terror group but as a responsible governing authority in Gaza.
This has been belied by the state of some of the hostages – and the stories that have emerged of what they have endured. But Hamas has seemed intent on persisting with this formula, even when it is coffins that they are handing over.
That event prompted the UN human rights chief Volker Turk to denounce the ‘parading of bodies’ as abhorrent and cruel.
First images of Hamas and crowds in Rafah ahead of hostage releasepublished at 06:54 Greenwich Mean Time
Image source, Reuters
We’ve just received these pictures from Rafah, in southern Gaza, where Hamas will be handing over hostages today as part of the ceasefire deal with Israel.
People are gathering to watch the handover, with armed and masked Hamas members standing alongside civilians and children.
The hostage release is also expected to take place at Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Image source, Reuters
Family of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas says new returned body is herspublished at 06:34 Greenwich Mean Time
Image source, PA Media
Shiri Bibas and her two small children was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, 2023
The family of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas says a new body handed over by Hamas on Friday is hers.
“Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home,” the family said in a statement. Israel’s forensic officials who have been examining the body are yet to confirm the identification.
Remains handed over by Hamas on Thursday which it said were that of Shiri Bibas turned out to be an unidentified woman, Israel said.
The Bibas family said: “For 16 months, we sought certainty, and now that we have it, there is no comfort in it, but we hope for the beginning of a closure.”
Hamas previously said the mother and her two children were killed in an Israeli air strike.
Earlier, a senior Hamas official confirmed to the BBC the handover of the new body from Hamas to the Red Cross had taken place on Friday evening.
What does the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas involve?published at 06:26 Greenwich Mean Time
On 15 January, a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced between Israel and Hamas.
The ceasefire formally began on 19 January at 11:15 local time (09:15 GMT) – it marked the start of an initial six week phase which would see 33 Israeli hostages freed in return for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza in Israeli jails.
Other agreed elements of phase one included Israeli forces leaving populated areas and hundreds of aid lorries to be permitted into Gaza.
Stage two is aimed at establishing a permanent ceasefire – with remaining living hostages in Gaza to be exchanged for more prisoners and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a press conference on Tuesday that negotiations on phase two “will happen this week,” the Reuters news agency and Israeli media has reported.
The third and final stage should see the return of all bodies of dead hostages as well as the reconstruction of Gaza.
Six hostages to be released by Hamas todaypublished at 06:16 Greenwich Mean Time
Welcome and thanks for joining our live page on the latest in the Middle East.
Today we’re expecting six living hostages to be released by Hamas as phase one of the ceasefire deal between the Palestinian armed group and Israel continues.
Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed have been named by Hamas as being among those to be returned today.
They were seized in 2014 and 2015 respectively after they crossed into Gaza on their own. Four others have been named by family members.
They are Omer Shem Tov, 22, Eliya Cohen, 27, and Omer Wenkert, 23, who were each taken from the Nova Festival on 7 October 2023, as well as 40-year-old Tal Shoam who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri.
Israel has said it will free all women and those under the age of 19 arrested since last October.
We’ll be closely monitoring events over the next few hours so stick with us for the latest.