The Palestinian group is awaiting a list of 90 prisoners to be released by Tel Aviv as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange on Day 1 of the truce
Emily Damari (L) Romi Gonen (C) Doron Steinbrecher. Photo: Reuters
A senior Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian militant group had handed over three Israeli women hostages to the Red Cross on Sunday, as agreed with Israel in a ceasefire deal.
"The three women hostages were officially handed over to the Red Cross at Al-Saraya Square in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood in western Gaza City," the official said.
"This occurred after a member of the Red Cross team met with them and ensured their well-being."
Hamas had said it would release the three hostages as part of the first phase of its ceasefire deal with Israel.
Israel has not confirmed the names of the three women and may not do so until they are handed over after 6pm (1400 GMT), but the Hostages and Missing Families Forum did name them.
Gonen, a dancer, was 23 when Hamas gunmen abducted her from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023. Gonen spent hours hiding from the gunmen with several friends before being shot in the hand. She was on the phone with her family when they heard her say "I am going to die, today". The last thing they heard the attackers saying, in Arabic, was "she's alive, let's take her". Her phone was later traced to a location in the Gaza Strip.
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Steinbrecher was a 30-year-old veterinary nurse who was taken to Gaza from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the communities worst hit in the Oct 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. A few hours after the attack began she phoned her parents to say she was scared and that the gunmen had arrived at her building. She then sent a voice message to her friends saying "They've arrived, they have me".
Damari, 28, is a British-Israeli who was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She grew up in London and is a fan of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team. According to her mother, she was shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel in her leg, blindfolded, bundled into the back of her own car, and driven to Gaza.
Hamas is awaiting a list of 90 prisoners to be released by Israel as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange on the first day of the Gaza ceasefire.
"The occupation is expected to hand over shortly a list containing the names of 90 prisoners from the categories of women and children who are set to be released on the first day of the ceasefire," Hamas said in statement.
Israel and mediating nation Qatar confirmed on Sunday a long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza had come into effect following a delay of almost three hours as Israel awaited a list of three hostages to be initially freed by Hamas.
According to the ceasefire plan, a total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.
In its statement, Hamas said the truce deal stipulated "the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one civilian detainee", adding that the 90 prisoners expected for release Sunday would be drawn from a submitted list of 120 women and children in total.
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