13 Israeli hostages freed from Hamas captivity
Great-grandmothers and a two-year-old child were among 24 Hamas hostages freed on Friday as part of the first wave of a multi-day agreement.
Their release is part of a high-stakes agreement to release those kidnapped by the terrorist group on October 7 in exchange for the release of Palestinians. prisoners.
Among the first hostages released by Hamas after 49 days of captivity were 13 Israelis, including four children, as well as 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino.
Other hostages are expected to be released soon. days as part of the agreement, which includes a temporary ceasefire.
Daniel and Amelia Aloni
Age: 44 and five years old
Daniela and Emilia Aloni
Single mother Danielle Aloni begged Benjamin Netanyahu to “free us all” in a chilling hostage video released last month by Hamas.
Ms. Aloni and her five-year-old daughter were abducted while they were visiting her twin sister Sharon Kunio at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
The family, including Ms. Kunio's husband, David, and their three-year-old daughters Emma and Julia were initially hiding in a bomb shelter but were forced to flee when terrorists set fire to their home.
Ms Aloni's family had no confirmation that they were alive until Hamas shared a video on in which Ms. Aloni sits on plastic chairs between two other hostages.
In the 76-second video, she said: “Release your citizens.” , release your prisoners. Free us. Free us all. Let's now return to our families.”
Doron Katz-Asher, Raz Asher and Aviv Asher
Age: 34, four, two
Aviv (right) and Raz Asher Katz
Yoni Asher learned of the kidnapping of his wife and two young daughters only when he saw a video of terrorists loading them with other hostages into a pickup truck.< /p>
Doron Katz-Ascher and the girls were kidnapped. Hamas while visiting her mother when terrorists stormed Kibbutz Nir Or.
They were hiding in a sealed room with Ms. Katz-Asher's mother, Efrat Katz, and her partner, Gadi Moses.
Mr. Usher, who called his daughters his “flowers,” said his wife texted him saying she heard terrorists enter the house and open fire. Mr. Moses left the room and was captured by the terrorists.
Asher later tracked his wife's phone to a location in the Gaza Strip before finding a video of his family being taken away. He later learned that his mother-in-law had been killed.
Adina Moshe
Age: 72
Ainda Moshe
Ainda Moshe saw terrorists shoot her husband David before they dragged her through the window of the safe room of her home to kidnap her.
She held the doorknob of the sealed room they were hiding in, trying to keep the terrorists out. But Hamas terrorists repeatedly shot at the window until they got inside. They then killed Ms Moshe's husband.
Ms Moshe was then dragged through the window and later footage showed her sitting in a red T-shirt next to them. two terrorists.
Ms. Moshe always said that if terrorists came to her house, she would make coffee and lay out cookies.
Ruthie Munder, Keren Munder and Ohad Munder
Age: 78 years old, 54 and nine
Keren Munder and her son Ohad
Three generations of the Munder family were celebrating Simchat Torah together on Kibbutz Nir Oz when they were awakened by sounds explosions and sirens.
Ms Munder texted her partner Avi at 7:24 a.m. saying she heard gunshots and thought terrorists had infiltrated the kibbutz.
She, her son Ohad and her parents Ruti and Abraham hid in a shelter and only left to go to the toilet. All four were kidnapped by Hamas. Ohad was nine years old while being held captive in the Gaza Strip.
Hannah Perry
Age: 79
Hannah Perry < p>Hannah Perry was talking on the phone to her 46-year-old daughter, Ayelet Swatycki, when terrorists broke into her home.
Ms Swatycki heard the gunmen shouting orders before the phone line broke off.
A few seconds later she received photographs of her elderly mother and brother with terrorists along with the message: “Hamas.”
The photographs showed Mrs Perry sitting with her son, Nadav Popplewell, 51, in her living room at Kibbutz Nirim. , under armed guard.
Ms. Perry's other son, Roy, was shot to death behind his home in another neighborhood.
Ms. Perry, who has diabetes, immigrated to Israel from the South Africa. in the 1960s.
Hannah Katzir
Age: 77
Hannah Katzir
Hanna Katzir, a mother of three and grandmother of six, was kidnapped from her home on the kibbutz she helped found.
Her husband, Abraham Katzir, 55, was killed by Hamas militants. during the October 7 attack.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad said several days ago that Ms. Katzir was killed in an Israeli attack.
Islamic Jihad said in a cable that Ms. Katsir died. They wrote that the group wanted to free her, “but the enemy delayed and this led to her death.”
Yaffa Ader
Age: 85
Yaffa Ader
Yaffa Ader's family discovered she had been kidnapped from her home when a video emerged of her wrapped in a pink blanket surrounded by armed terrorists.
They feared that the great-grandmother, whom her granddaughter called the “glue” of the family, did not have access to medications for blood pressure or chronic pain.
Ms. Ader Tamir's grandson, 38, was also captured by Hamas after he tried to protect the kibbutz as part of the Nir Oz emergency squad.
“She really was the glue of our family. She loved her life,” said her granddaughter, Adwa Adar. “She loved good food and good wine. She was very young.”
Margalit Moses
Age: 78
Margalit Moses
The patient cancer Margalit Moses was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Her family said she has health problems that require near-constant medical attention.
Ms. Moses, a nature lover and adventurer, enjoys traveling. Last year she visited Norway, and this winter she planned to go to Mozambique.
Thai captives
Nearly half of the 25 Thai migrant workers abducted by Hamas on October 7 were released on Friday.
Although it was not immediately clear who had been freed, those stranded During the war, the participants were agricultural workers from rural areas who came to Israel to earn money for their relatives back home.
“I am so happy about the news, and the family chat is very excited,” Wanida Ma-Arsa said The Telegraph from Udon Thani province in northeastern Thailand. Her husband Anucha Angkaev, a 28-year-old man also known as Art, had been working on an avocado farm in Reim for two years when Hamas attacked.
Thailand has been actively lobbying for the release of the Thai hostages, stressing that they are innocent and are not part of a wider conflict.
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