Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Starmer sacks British junior minister over insulting and antisemitic WhatsApp messages
LONDON – A British junior minister has been sacked by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and suspended from the governing Labour Party over WhatsApp messages that the minister said were “badly misjudged.”
Andrew Gwynne, who was a health minister, apologizes on X following a report by the Mail on Sunday that he had sent WhatsApp messages insulting constituents and other members of parliament. There were antisemitic posts among the messages.
“I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments and apologize for any offense I’ve caused,” he says. “I entirely understand the decisions the PM (prime minister) and the party have taken and, while very sad to have been suspended, will support them in any way I can.”
A government spokesperson says Starmer is determined to uphold high standards of conduct in public office.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Israel’s UN envoy calls on Guterres to ‘condemn Hamas’s cruel and inhuman treatment of hostages’
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a UN Security Council meeting concerning the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at UN headquarters in New York City on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon demands that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “unequivocally condemn Hamas’s cruel and inhuman treatment of the hostages,” after three Israeli men were released from Gaza this morning in emaciated condition after 491 days in captivity.
He calls on the UN chief to demand the “unconditional release from the hell in Gaza” of the remaining 73 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“It is not the people of Gaza or Hamas operatives who are suffering from malnutrition—our hostages are,” Danon writes in a letter to Guterres.
As a result of the severe physical condition of Or, Eli, and Ohad, who were released earlier today from Hamas captivity, I urgently appealed to the UN Secretary-General to condemn Hamas's cruel and inhumane treatment of the hostages and to demand the unconditional release of all… pic.twitter.com/tCQAuTTb8o
— Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) February 9, 2025
Former CAIR employee charged after wild antisemitic rant in New York went viral
A former employee of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been charged with a hate crime after an antisemitic rant in a New York building went viral online.
Noora Shalash was been charged with aggravated harassment, a second-degree hate crime, after she unleashed a vicious, profanity-laced rant against a Jewish man.
“Fuck the Jews, I love Jesus,” she yelled. “I demand Jihad! I want ISIS to kill all of you! I am conspiring with Hamas, Palestinian Jihad and with ISIS, I am conspiring with them!”
The incident was filmed by Seth Bell, the Jewish man at whom the Thursday afternoon tirade was unleashed, the New York Post reports. Shalash also hit Bell, the report said.
She is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court later Saturday, the report says.
Following the incident, CAIR disassociated itself from Shalash. “This person has not worked with our CAIR-KY chapter in five years,” the organization posted on X. “She has no role at our civil rights group. We condemn and reject the antisemitic comments in the video, just as we condemn and reject anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Muslim hate you regularly spew.”
“I demand Jihad, I want ISIS to kill all of you.”
Noora Shalash, Director of Government Affairs for CAIR-Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/jZz1Zc8teO
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 7, 2025
Smotrich slams lawmakers for comparing freed hostages to Holocaust survivors, but calls Hamas ‘Nazis’
Finance Minister and Religious Zionist party chair Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticizes his fellow cabinet ministers and other MKs for comparing the condition of the three hostages released on Saturday to that of Holocaust survivors.
“The suffering of our hostages in brutal Hamas captivity is heartbreaking. But comparisons to the Holocaust are a grave mistake and belittle the Holocaust,” says Smotrich, who has however frequently called Hamas “Nazis,” including this evening.
“But for those who still compare Hamas’s treatment of our hostages to the Holocaust today and seek to make us surrender to Hamas because of it, I have a question: Would you sign a deal with Hitler that keeps the Nazis in power and allows them to prepare the next Holocaust?” he continues, saying that this rationale was the basis of his opposition to any deal to end the war which leaves Hamas in power.
“Alongside the importance of returning all the hostages, we have to destroy and wipe off the face of the map Hamas and everyone, and everything, connected to it in the Gaza Strip so that there will not be a single person on earth who would think of kidnapping Jews and treating them this way again,” says the finance minister.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev, meanwhile, denounces the Supreme Court and its new president Justice Isaac Amit, in response to the release of the hostages, and appears to suggest that Israel should treat Palestinian prisoners similar to the way Hamas, who she describes as Nazis, treats Israeli hostages.
“To Justice Isaac Amit and his clique in the Supreme Court who said their doors are open and who deliberate seriously over petitions regarding nutrition, the thickness of the mattress and the amount of bedding for accursed Nukhba terrorists, I suggest connecting to reality, looking at the state of our hostages, and kicking the petitioners down the steps [of the court,” says Regev.
The Supreme Court, in its function as the High Court of Justice, has heard several petitions during the course of the war dealing with the conditions of Palestinian security prisoners, including Hamas terrorists.
Numerous reports emerged of severe abuse of such prisoners at the hands of IDF soldiers in the Sde Teiman detention facility, which has led to two indictments so far and prompted petitions to the High Court demanding the prison be closed down.
The High Court ordered the state to guarantee it was not violating the law in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners but ultimately ruled against the petitioners’ demand to shutter Sde Teiman after a new, improved facility was built at the site.
Smotrich slams Hamas after hostage release: ‘Such evil must be eradicated from the face of the earth’
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich slams Hamas after the terror group releases three Israel hostages pale and malnourished.
“The sheer evil that the Nazis are committing in Gaza — we will never forget,” says Smotrich, who voted against the hostage release and ceasefire deal under which the abductees were released. He remains in the government.
“Such evil must be eradicated from the face of the earth.”
Released Hamas hostage Or Levy reunites with 3-year-old son Almog after 491 days in captivity in Gaza
Released Hamas hostage Or Levy reunites with his three-year-old son Almog after 491 days in captivity in Gaza, at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, February 8, 2025. (Courtesy)
Former Hamas hostage Or Levy reunites with his three-year-old son Almog after 491 days in captivity in Gaza, at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.
Almog’s mother Eynav — Levy’s wife — was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.
Levy was released this morning along with fellow hostages Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, amid an ongoing truce deal with Hamas.
Almog, left, Or and Eynav Levy prior to October 7, 2023 when Eynav was killed and Or taken hostage by Hamas terrorists (Courtesy)
Parents of slain hostage Goldberg-Polin urge Trump: ‘Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week’
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Gaza after being kidnapped on October 7, 2023, address a rally calling for the release of Israelis still held by Hamas, Tel Aviv, November 23, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The parents of murdered Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin make a plea for US President Donald Trump to speed up the release of the remaining hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, after three Israeli men kidnapped were freed from the Palestinian enclave under the first phase of a truce deal.
In a video statement, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin say they felt a particular connection to Or Levy, who was kidnapped from the same bomb shelter as their son on October 7, 2023, as they ran from terrorists who raided the Supernova rave near Kibbutz Re’im.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin says that when Levy was released from captivity in Gaza this morning, one of the first things he asked was if Hersh was okay, “because he had assumed that Hersh had been released long ago, and his brother had to explain to him that Hersh had been murdered five months ago.”
“Seeing the condition of these three hostages, hearing that Or had no idea what happened to Hersh, that Eli was unaware of the fate of his wife and his daughters, is just a gut punch to all of us that we need to do more,” Polin says.
Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin have issued a new call to action, urging President Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push for the release of all hostages held in Gaza "this week.”
"Our plea to you right now is, now that you've done the hard part of getting… pic.twitter.com/j4uwlVzXiS
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 8, 2025
He directly addresses Trump and his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, urging them, “Let’s not think about phase one and phase two and phase three and many months. Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week. End of war.”
“Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let’s get it done right now,” he adds.
Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were executed by their Hamas captors in August. Their bodies were recovered and brought back to Israel by the IDF.
Police detain two protesters as Begin Road anti-government hostage protest winds down
Demonstrators protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip outside the IDF's Kirya Base in Tel Aviv, February 8, 2025. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Police detained at least two people at an anti-government, pro-hostage deal protest in Tel Aviv this evening, according to a legal group that volunteers services on behalf of detained protesters.
The arrests came as the protest was winding down, with the vast majority of protesters having dispersed.
Some stay on the street after police orders them onto the sidewalk. A police officer tells angry protesters that one of the detainees had used force against a cop.
Chanting “Shame,” some two dozen protesters surround the vehicle in which the detainees are being held. An officer shoves some of them onto the sidewalk to clear a path for the car to drive north to the nearby Tel Aviv station.
Traffic resumes in both directions of Begin Road.
מעצר אלים של מפגין
צילמה: נעמי סער חכם
תל אביב 08/02/25 pic.twitter.com/5ZJZUFZNA9
— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) February 8, 2025
US secretary of state: ‘Hamas MUST release ALL hostages NOW!’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a joint news conference with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo at the National Palace in Guatemala City, February 5, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomes the release this morning of Gaza hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, after 16 months in Hamas captivity.
“After 490 harrowing days in captivity, Eli, Or, and Ohad are finally home in Israel,” he writes in a post on X.
He adds that US President Donald Trump “was clear — Hamas MUST release ALL hostages NOW!”
Freed soldier Karina Ariev tells Hostages Square: Seeing footage of rallies ‘gave me hope’ in captivity
People protest for the release of Israelis held hostage by the Hamas terror group in Gaza, at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, February 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Karina Ariev, one of the five female surveillance soldiers released from Hamas captivity in the nascent Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, says in a video statement screened to hundreds gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square that while in captivity, “there were times when I said to myself — that’s it, you’re not getting out; but then I saw you.”
“I was exposed to your massive support and struggle and that’s what saved me; it’s what lifted me up and gave me the hope to go on,” she says.
Many of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel who have returned home have said they were intermittently exposed to media coverage of the massive campaign for their release.
“I want to tell you that we must not stop. It isn’t over yet,” says Ariev. “There are still hostages who need to come home.”
She honors the soldiers who “sacrificed their lives so that we could sit here.” To their families, Ariev says: “I have no words that can offer solace, but I want you to know that I and the entire nation will not forget them.”
Ariev also thanks “all the hostage families, who, despite tremendous pain and divergent opinions, have become one big family, and a big light that shone over the entire people.”
“Don’t forget that unity, don’t lose it — it’s what saved us and what will bring everyone home,” she says. “And even when, God willing, the last one comes back — don’t forget it.”
????Observer Karina Ariev, who was released two weeks ago from Hamas captivity in Gaza , delivered a video message that was screened at the central rally in the hostages Square in Tel Aviv: ." Hello everyone, for those who don't know me – I'm Karina Ariev and I'm 20 years old,… pic.twitter.com/PeHxjMJC0W
— Iris (@streetwize) February 8, 2025
Finally, Ariev thanks US President Donald Trump, urging him to “help us proceed from the first to the second phase” of the agreement.
“I really believe you have the power and determination to make it work,” she says, adding: “Am Yisrael Chai!”
The urgency of releasing all living hostages as quickly as possible was underscored by the emaciation of the three hostages released this morning. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed on Monday to commence negotiations on the deal’s second phase, as scheduled in the Gaza deal.
Speaking at Hostages Square, Sharon Aloni Cunio, whose husband David Cunio is held in Gaza and slated for release only in the second phase, accuses Netanyahu of failing to live up to the words “Never Again,” which he frequently uses in speeches about the Holocaust.
Released hostage Sharon Aloni Cunio, whose husband David Cunio is still held in Gaza, speaks at a rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, February 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
“The State of Israel knows very well how to say ‘Never Again’ to other nations. The prime minister uses it in every one of his speeches in the United States, where he is now,” she says.
“But what is the meaning of ‘Never Again’ if here in our country, an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, Jews are left to die in Auschwitz conditions?” she asks.
Addressing politicians who have spoken out against the deal’s second phase, she says: “How dare you?”
“‘Never Again’ means no more Jews emerging from the shadows looking like skeletons,” says Aloni Cunio. “‘Never Again’ means no more stonewalling that makes us bury hostages and not embrace them.”
“I call on the prime minister: Wake up! They’re dying there!” she said.
This morning’s image of the emaciated hostages returning “will live in infamy,” she adds. “I don’t want my David coming back in a body bag.”
David’s brother Ariel is also still held in Gaza and not slated for release in the first phase of the deal. He was kidnapped along with his wife and three-year-old twin daughters from their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. Aloni Cunio and the girls were released in a week-long hostage deal in November that year.
Freed hostages Or Levy and Eli Sharabi are in ‘poor condition,’ hospital says
Or Levy (second right) on an IDF helicopter with his family after his release from Hamas captivity on February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Two Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Saturday, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, have returned from Gaza in “poor” medical condition, the hospital where they are receiving care says.
“The consequences of 491 long days in captivity are evident on the two returnees who arrived today and their medical condition is poor. This is the fourth time in the current framework that we have received returnees and the situation is more serious this time,” Yael Frenkel Nir, the director of Sheba Medical Center, tells reporters.
Channel 12, meanwhile, says doctors at Sheba consider that the condition of today’s hostages is worse than that of those who have been freed in the past. The protracted time in captivity is evident in “a significant deterioration” in the condition of the hostages freed today, it quotes officials at the hospital saying. Their condition raises “profound and serious concerns” regarding the conditions of those who are still held hostage.
The various comments from health officials regarding today’s hostages, Channel 12’s health reporter says, indicate that Hamas “is starving our hostages.”
Defense sources say hostages’ dire condition should come as no surprise to Netanyahu
Senior officials in the defense establishment reportedly denounce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he expressed outrage and threatened Hamas over the emaciated condition of the three hostages freed today.
“What did he expect?” Channel 12 quotes one source saying. “It should have come as no surprise to him. The prime minister is familiar with the intelligence material and the medical opinions. The more time that passes, the more the releases are going to become difficult in terms of the hostages’ appearance. [His comments] are aimed at his political base, because these are pictures [of the gaunt, weak hostages] that harm him politically, but there’s nothing substantive behind them.”
In response, an unnamed source close to Netanyahu says Israel was not previously aware that Hamas was deliberately starving the hostages.
Channel 12 news also quotes a senior Israeli source saying that the delegation Netanyahu is sending to hostage talks in Qatar “has no real mandate. [Trump’s envoy Steve] Witkoff asked that a delegation be sent and Netanyahu is doing so, in part to avoid giving Hamas reasons to blow up the deal.” The source stressed that “because of the condition of the hostages, there is not a second to waste.”
Senior figures in the defense establishment have for months criticized Netanyahu for ostensibly slowing and complicating efforts to free the hostages because he fears far-right elements in his coalition will bring it down.
Hostage’s mother: Netanyahu is lounging in a DC hotel while we watch a Holocaust reality show
Demonstrators raise placards and chant slogans during a protest calling for the release of hostages held captive in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 massacre, in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Some 1,000 people protest outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, accusing the government of abandoning the hostages to certain death, after captives Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi returned to Israel this morning visibly emaciated.
The Begin Road protest, held down the block from Hostages Square, is bolstered by some 300 anti-government protesters who marched over from Habima Square, where they heard speeches from several public figures including The Democrats chief Yair Golan.
The Begin Road protesters accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to block the deal from progressing to its second phase — potentially leaving dozens in captivity — so his government stays intact. The premier, currently in Washington, decided not to commence talks on the second phase on Monday, as scheduled in the Gaza deal, reportedly to first discuss the matter with US President Donald Trump.
A demonstrator raises a placard during a protest calling for the release of hostages held captive in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker has been held in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and is not up for release in the deal’s first phase — roars to the crowd: “I love you, but I’m boiling.”
“Our prime minister is lounging in a Washington hotel while we watch a Holocaust reality show,” she says, accusing Netanyahu of agreeing to a protracted deal specifically so he could back out of it.
“Instead of one comprehensive deal, Netanyahu gave us a long agreement that drags on for months and phases,” she says, adding: “We don’t need to wait week after week to watch this horrific reality show. Everyone could have been freed in one blow.”
“How has it been nearly 16 months and the negotiating team still has no mandate to discuss the second phase?” she asks. “Why do I need to travel to Washington to tell the US president that my prime minister wants to abandon the hostages?”
“Whoever doesn’t overturn tables to ensure the agreement is concluded in its entirety — whoever derails the agreement — will go down in infamy,” says Zangauker.
She yells her son’s name, telling him: “I’m doing everything to get you back home alive.”
Addressing all the hostages, she adds: “An entire nation fighting for you. Stay strong.”
Einav Zangauker now in Tel Aviv, urging Netanyahu to return all the hostages, without delay, after seeing the last three hostages returning emaciated and gaunt.
Her son Matan, is still in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/EW19howdmv— Manuela Rotstein (@ManuelaRotstein) February 8, 2025
Yifat Calderon, whose cousin Ofer Calderon was released last week under the hostage-ceasefire deal, says her relative endured hell in Gaza.
“It’s hell, make no mistake,” she says.
She says Netanyahu’s video statement on this morning’s hostage release, in which the prime minister pledged to topple Hamas, represents further stonewalling by the premier — “toppling Hamas on the backs of the hostages.”
She urges Trump to look at the skeletal faces of Levy, Ben Ami and Sharabi, and pressure Netanyahu into returning the 73 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 who remain in Gaza.
“If he keeps stonewalling, we’ll get more corpses, instead of living hostages,” she says.
Tel Aviv hospital: Ex-hostage Ohad Ben Ami came back ‘severely malnourished, lost a lot of body weight’
Ohad Ben Ami and wife Raz pictured after his release from Hamas captivity on February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Former Hamas hostage Ohad Ben Ami has returned from captivity “severely malnourished and having lost a lot of body weight,” Prof. Gil Pierre from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital says in a statement.
He notes that Ben Ami is “strong spirited and inspiring, and accompanied by a strong family,” who he says will “help us in the coming stages” of the 56-year-old’s recovery.
“We’re doing everything possible to enable Ohad and his family to get through these exciting but difficult moments,” he adds.
Freed hostages were abused, held underground, barefoot, hardly showered during Gaza captivity — Hebrew media
Hostages, from left to right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, are paraded by Hamas gunmen before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra)
Hebrew media shares testimony from the three hostages freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza this morning, citing conversations with their family members.
Channel 12 news reports that Or Levy, 34, was held with other hostages for the entirety of his captivity in Gaza, mainly in the terror group’s tunnels.
He showered only every few months and was barefoot for 491 days, wearing shoes for the first time this morning, according to the report.
Levy was not sure until today that his wife Eynav was killed on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. Their now three-year-old son Almog has been with his grandparents since Levy was kidnapped and his wife killed.
According to the report, Levy heard from one of his Hamas guards that his brother Michael was campaigning for his release when he spoke at the UN last year.
He lost some 20 kilograms (44 pounds) during his 16 months in captivity, though the hostages were given more food in recent days in an attempt to improve their conditions before their release.
Released hostage Or Levy is handed over to IDF forces in the Gaza Strip on February 8, 2025. (Screencapture/IDF)
Levy, along with Eli Sharabi, 52, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, appeared extremely thin and frail, and unsteady on their feet as they were handed over to the Red Cross at a Hamas ceremony in Gaza this morning.
Channel 12 adds that the hostages sometimes ate just a quarter of a pita per day.
The families are quoted as saying that the hostages all endured physical and psychological abuse during their captivity. There were times when they were only allowed to relieve themselves twice a day, at specific times, according to the television report.
WATCH: Released hostages helicoptered to hospitals in central Israel after being freed from Gaza
The IDF releases video footage of recently-released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami being helicoptered from a military base near the Gaza border to hospitals in central Israel, a short while after they were freed from Hamas captivity.
Ben Ami is seen shaking hands with IDF officers, accompanied by his wife Raz, who was also kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and released in a week-long truce in November that year.
“It’s a dream,” she says to him a short while later, on the helicopter, as the two kiss.
Released hostages Ohad and Raz Ben Ami are seen aboard a military helicopter en route to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, shortly after the former was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Levy is seen taking a selfie with his brother Michael, who campaigned heavily for his release over the past 16 months.
Michael hands his brother a yellow wristband, symbolizing solidarity with the hostages. They hug.
Former hostage Or Levy (second from right) is seen aboard a military helicopter with his family, en route to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, shortly after his release from Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Sharabi is seen in the helicopter flanked by his mother Chana and sister Osnat, the three holding hands tightly.
He disembarks from the chopper at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, wrapped in an Israeli flag.
Former hostage Eli Sharabi (center) is seen aboard a military helicopter with his family, en route to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, shortly after his release from Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Netanyahu vows to free all captives, destroy Hamas ‘monsters’ after hostages released in emaciated condition
Top row, left to right: Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami seen on a stage set up by Hamas in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, before the terror group handed them over to the Red Cross, February 8, 2025. Bottom row, the three Israelis as pictured before they were abducted. (Eyad Baba / AFP; courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens the Hamas terror group following the release of the three hostages on Saturday in emaciated condition, saying “their blood is on their heads,” and vowing to destroy the Islamist group.
“We have once again seen what the Hamas monsters are. They are the same monsters who slaughtered our citizens and abused our captives,” says Netanyahu.
The prime minister says the government will do everything to return all the remaining hostages, adding that he has given instructions to the Israeli negotiating team to demand their safety.
“But beyond that, President Trump agreed with me totally: we will do everything to return all the hostages, but Hamas won’t be there. We will eliminate Hamas, and return all our captives,” Netanyahu adds.
Freed hostage Ohad Ben Ami’s daughter posts clip of herself in IDF uniform, walking to embrace him
Former hostage Ohad Ben Ami’s daughter Natalie shares a video of herself in IDF uniform, walking happily toward her father after he was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza this morning after 491 days.
He walks toward her, clapping, and the two embrace.
“Finally I can wear my uniform with pride,” she writes in a post on social media, having asked not to be photographed in military garb since she began her service eight months ago for fears her father would be harmed in captivity as a result.
"סוף סוף יכולה ללבוש מדים בגאווה": אוהד בן עמי רואה את בתו נטלי על מדים בפעם הראשונה, לאחר שעד היום ביקשה שלא לצלם אותה במדים כדי שלא יפגעו באביה בשבי@Itsik_zuarets
צילום: רשתות חברתיות pic.twitter.com/xkqnBbiRIX— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 8, 2025
In Hamas propaganda show, Eli Sharabi says he’s ‘very happy to return’ to wife and daughters, before learning soon after in Israel that they were murdered on Oct. 7
Palestinian Hamas fighters flank Israeli hostages (L-R) Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy on a stage before handing them over to a Red Cross team in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Footage of the Hamas propaganda ceremony in Gaza this morning at which three Israeli hostages were released shows Eli Sharabi being forced to speak on the stage, before he returned to Israel and learned that his wife and three daughters were killed in the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
After being asked in Hebrew how he is feeling by a masked Hamas gunman running the show, Sharabi says into the microphone, “I feel very, very happy today to return to my family and friends, to my wife and my daughters.”
When safely with the IDF, he reportedly told soldiers he anticipated seeing his wife and daughters. His relatives later gave him the terrible news.
Sharabi was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri in the Hamas massacre, while his wife Lianne, and their daughters, Noiya, 16, and Yahel 13, were murdered in their safe room.
It is apparent from the Hamas propaganda material — most of which is not being shown by Israeli media — that Sharabi knew that his brother Yossi was dead.
The other two hostages released today as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy, were also made to speak while on stage, carrying the now ubiquitous certificates of their release before they were handed over to the Red Cross.
Aid organization says ‘thousands’ in Gaza at risk from unexploded bombs
A Palestinian child stands inside a damaged car in front of a destroyed building in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on February 7, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
PARIS – Unexploded bombs and shells buried in the ruins of Gaza could kill or injure thousands of people in the future, an aid organization warns.
The volume of ordnance dropped on Gaza during 15 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas is “mind-boggling,” says Simon Elmont, a demining expert with Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion.
“The amount of ordnance that has been fired is an enormous quantity,” Elmont tells AFP, adding that between nine and 13 percent of munitions fail to explode on initial impact.
“It is going to be tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance, that’s for sure,” he adds.
He says that the contamination level in Gaza is massive, and much of the ordnance “lies mainly within the rubble and underneath the surface.”
Hamas and Israel have agreed on a ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19 and ushered in a fragile calm.
Elmont warns of the risk of multiple deaths and injuries as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians return home to recover their belongings and try to rebuild.
Citing recent video footage, the expert says a Gazan child was hospitalized after another child threw a grenade at him, “believing it was a toy.”
Two El Paso synagogues graffitied with swastikas; local police investigating
Two El Paso synagogues have been graffitied with Nazi symbols, local media reports say.
The B’nai Zion synagogue and Temple Mount Sinai were both spraypainted early Thursday with a symbol combining a swastika with a Star of David, photos on social media show.
The graffiti has since been cleaned.
Texas police are investigating the incident, and no one has been charged yet, local media reports.
El Paso, TX – A swastika intertwined with a Star of David was spray-painted on a synagogue. Are we back in 1930s Germany?
This blatant act of antisemitic intimidation must be investigated immediately, @ElPasoTXGov.
????Congregation B'nai Zion pic.twitter.com/Bj8AT0kYZm
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 6, 2025
WATCH: ‘I need to know what happened that day’: Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with his family
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami arrives at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, as he reunites with his daughters after 491 days in Hamas captivity, February 8, 2025. (Haim Tsach/GPO)
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with his daughters at a hospital in central Israel after 491 days in captivity in Gaza, footage shows.
In the video, his three daughters, Yulie, Ella, and Natalie Ben Ami, are seen running into their father’s arms, squealing with joy.
His mother, Esther, joins the embrace, followed by his wife Raz Ben Ami, also a former Hamas captive, as the just-released hostage smiles and strokes their heads lovingly.
The family is seen happily chatting and catching up, in the halls of Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital.
“Dad, we love you! We missed you so much,” the young women can be heard saying.
One of his daughters tells her father that she began her IDF service while he was in captivity. “I’ve been in the army for eight months,” she says, kneeling at her father’s feet.
“I’m proud of you,” he says.
Ohad tells his family that he wants to hear about what happened on October 7, 2023, when he and his wife were kidnapped from their home on Kibbutz Be’eri during Hamas’s brutal onslaught that sparked the war in Gaza. Raz was released in November 2023 during a week-long truce.
“I need to know what happened that day,” he says.
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with his family at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv after 491 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 8, 2025. (Haim Tsach/GPO)
IDF says it targeted Hezbollah operatives in Beqaa Valley airstrike; Lebanese media reports 6 dead
The IDF says it carried out an airstrike in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley earlier today, targeting Hezbollah operatives.
“The strike was carried out after the terrorists were identified operating at a site for manufacturing and storing strategic weapons,” the military says.
Lebanon’s state news agency reports six dead and two wounded in the strike.
According to the IDF, activity at the Hezbollah site “is a blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
“The IDF continues to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to rebuild its forces, in accordance with the ceasefire understandings,” the military adds.
Hostages Forum urges Netanyahu to convene security cabinet ASAP to push 2nd stage of Gaza deal
Protesters in Rehovot call for the return of all the hostages still held by Hamas, holding a banner that reads, "Until the last hostage," February 8, 2025. (Gilad Furst/Pro-Democracy Movement)
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene the security cabinet immediately to push forward talks on the second phase of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, after reports that the meeting will only take place on Monday.
“How, after the shocking photos of Eli, Ohad and Or this morning, is the cabinet not meeting immediately? What more proof do the decision-makers need to understand the urgency of returning the 76 hostages?” the Hostages Forum says in a statement.
Three hostages released by Hamas this morning after 491 days in captivity — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, — all appeared extremely thin and frail. While they were able to walk, they seemed to be unsteady on their feet as they were paraded by terrorists across a stage before being handed to the Red Cross.
The Hostages Forum statement comes a short while after an Israeli official said that the delegation Netanyahu dispatched to Doha today would only be discussing technical matters of the Gaza deal with negotiators, rather than advancing its second phase.
“Prime minister, send a negotiating team to Qatar with a clear and complete mandate — to complete the agreement urgently, until the last hostage, in a manner and on a date agreed upon in advance,” the families urge.
Meanwhile, protesters are gathering at multiple locations around the country, calling for the government to secure the release of the remaining 73 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 who remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Protesters outside President Isaac Herzog’s residence in Tsahala in North Tel Aviv call on the government to seal a deal for the release of all the hostages still held by Hamas, February 8, 2025. (Hila Cohen/Pro-Democracy Movement)
PM okays delegation to Doha, but officials say talks on 2nd phase of Gaza deal won’t start until security cabinet meets
Demonstrators raise placards during a protest calling for the release of hostages held captive in Gaza, in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on February 1, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the dispatch of a delegation to Doha to address technical details of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, according to an unnamed Israeli official.
The source says the approval was given after the terror group released three hostages from Gaza this morning and Israel released 183 Palestinian security prisoners under the terms of the first stage of the accord.
The prime minister will hold a security cabinet meeting upon his return to Israel this evening regarding negotiations for the second stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal, the official says.
Senior Israeli officials cited by the Walla news site similarly say that this is only a “symbolic warm-up trip,” which is not expected to advance negotiations on the second phase of the deal.
Netanyahu is currently in Washington, DC, after a six-day trip during which he met with US President Donald Trump and senior American officials. He is due to fly back to Israel this evening. Walla reports that the security cabinet will meet on Monday.
The officials cited in the Walla report stress that the delegation has not received a mandate from the political echelon to conduct talks on the second phase, and it appears that the trip is intended primarily to demonstrate goodwill toward the Trump administration.
The Israeli delegation to Doha is said to include the government’s hostage point man Brigadier General (ret.) Gal Hirsch, along with a senior Shin Bet official and representatives form the Mossad, the Shin Bet and the IDF.
WATCH: Released hostage Eli Sharabi arrives at central hospital, wrapped in Israeli flag
Released hostage Eli Sharabi arrives at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, wrapped in an Israeli flag, as he walks to be reunited with members of his family after 491 days in Hamas captivity, February 8, 2025. (Haim Tsach/GPO)
Released hostage Eli Sharabi arrives at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, wrapped in an Israeli flag, as he walks to be reunited with members of his family after 491 days in Hamas captivity, footage shows.
He was reunited with his mother Chana and sister Osnat at an army facility near the Gaza border before being flown on a helicopter to the central Israel hospital.
Sharabi’s wife and two teenage daughters were killed on October 7, 2023, when he was kidnapped from his home on Kibbutz Be’eri.
Health Ministry says released hostages suffering severe malnutrition, lost significant weight in Hamas captivity
The Health Ministry says that the three hostages who were freed from Gaza this morning are suffering from severe malnutrition and lost significant body weight during their 491 days in captivity, after initial medical checks in the hours following their release.
“These are difficult scenes,” Health Ministry representative Dr. Hagar Mizrahi says in a press conference from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where two of the released hostages are beginning their recovery.
The three hostages freed by Hamas this morning — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 — looked gaunt and unsteady on their feet as they were released by the terror group, 16 months after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri and the Nova music festival.
But doctors were also “excited to see them walking on their own two feet, upright and proud,” the Health Ministry representative adds.
Mizrahi says that staff is also treating the families of released hostages, many of whom were so busy fighting for their loved ones’ release that they didn’t have time to care for themselves over the past 15 months.
The returned hostages and their families will receive a wide range of therapies, designed to address both their physical and emotional needs, says Mizrahi, the head of the General Medicine Division at the Health Ministry.
Senior Hamas official urges Arab countries not to normalize relations with Israel: ‘Step back from this’
A senior Hamas official urges Arab countries not to recognize Israel, as Saudi Arabia is being courted by the United States to join a small group of its neighbors in normalizing ties.
“We call on them not to normalize,” Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim tells AFP. “We call on all Arab countries, both those currently normalizing and those considering normalization, to step back from this.”
Israel and Saudi Arabia appeared to be on the cusp of a US-brokered normalization deal in October 2023, which stalled after the terror group’s brutal onslaught, with Riyadh shelving the matter amid Arab anger over Israel’s subsequent military offensive in Gaza.
US President Donald Trump has brought the issue back to the table since taking office last month.
Saudi Arabia this week reiterated its stance against normalizing relations with Israel before a two-state solution has been reached, though Trump said that Riyadh hadn’t made the establishment of a Palestinian state a condition for a peace deal.
IDF operating in West Bank to prevent celebrations for Palestinian prisoners being released today
A former Palestinian prisoner released by Israel waves to a cheering crowd as he steps out of a bus in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 8, 2025, as part of the fifth hostage-prisoner swap under a Gaza truce deal. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
The IDF says troops are operating in the West Bank to prevent parades and celebrations for the Palestinian prisoners being released today in the hostage deal with Hamas.
In recent days, the IDF and Shin Bet made calls to the families of the prisoners being released, warning them against celebrations. The Civil Administration also delivered messages to the Palestinian Authority, the military says.
Soldiers also seized Hamas flags and other objects that would have been used in parades, the IDF adds.
In exchange for the three Israeli hostages released earlier today, Israel is freeing 183 Palestinian security prisoners, including 18 serving life sentences. Many of the prisoners are being released to the West Bank.
‘Our father has emerged from the horror’: Freed hostage Ohad Ben Ami’s daughters excited to hug him after 491 days
The three daughters of Ohad Ben Ami, Ella, Natalie and Yuli, and his mother Esther, speak by phone with him after his release from Hamas captivity, February 8, 2025. (Ma'ayan Toaf / GPO)
The daughters of Ohad Ben Ami, who was freed from Gaza this morning after 491 days in captivity, release a statement from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, after they spoke with him by phone a short while after he crossed the border into Israel.
“Our father has emerged from the horror, and you can see the trauma he endured written on his face. But we are staying strong for him here, just as he stays strong for us, and soon we’ll be able to embrace him,” Yulie, Ella, and Natalie Ben Ami say in the statement shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“We got our father back. Now we must not stop until the last hostage is returned.”
Hamas official claims Israel’s ‘lack of commitment’ is putting hostage-ceasefire deal at risk of collapse
A senior Hamas official tells AFP that Israel’s “lack of commitment” to the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal has put it in danger of collapse.
Israel’s “procrastination and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase… certainly exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse,” says Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau.
The comment comes after Hamas this morning released three civilian hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023, in exchange for Israel’s release of 183 Palestinian security prisoners, as part of the ongoing deal that came into effect in January.
‘He looks as though he’s been to Belsen’: Released hostage Eli Sharabi’s family in UK thrilled he’s free, horrified at his condition
The families of Hamas hostages, from right, Raz Matalon, brother-in-law of hostage Eli Sharabi, Sharon Sharabi, brother of Eli Sharabi, Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of hostage Oded Lifshitz and Stephen Brisley, brother-in-law of hostage Eli Sharabi, attend a press conference after meeting with a number of UK high level officials, in London, February 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Gillian and Pete Brisley watch the handover of their son-in-law, Eli Sharabi, from their home in Britain with bittersweet emotion, thrilled that he was finally free but horrified at his physical condition.
Their daughter Lianne — Sharabi’s wife — and their granddaughters, Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were killed by Hamas terrorists in their home’s safe room at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023.
“At the moment I can hardly talk,’’ a shaken Gillian Brisley says before handing the phone to her husband, who comments on how fragile Sharabi appeared.
“He looks as though he’s been to Belsen,’’ Pete Brisley says, referring to the World War II concentration camp.
Earlier, his family said they didn’t know whether Sharabi had been told that his wife and two teenage daughters were killed in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israel.
“I just hope that he already knows, because it’s just going to be another layer of torture for him to have survived for the 490 days and then to come out to that piece of news,’’ his wife’s brother Stephen Brisley told the BBC before his release.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
‘Dad, it took you a long time to come back’: Almog Levy, 3, speaks to his just-released father Or
Or Levy is embraced by his parents and brother at an IDF base on February 8, 2025, soon after his release from Hamas captivity. (Screencapture/IDF)
Michael Levy, whose brother Or Levy was freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza after 491 days this morning, and who met up with him a short time ago, says he showed Or videos of his three-year-old son Almog and that the father and son then had a video call.
Levy was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged southern Israeli communities. His wife Eynav was killed in the brutal onslaught.
In an emotional interview over a video call, Michael tells Channel 12 news that Almog told Or, “Dad, it took you a long time to come back.”
Almog also told his dad that he “can’t wait to see you,” Michael reported.
Almog, left, Or and Eynav Levy prior to October 7, 2023, when Eynav was killed and Or was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists (Courtesy)
“It’s crazy. But he’s here now,” Michael says about Or, adding that though the struggle to free his brother is over, “we still have the struggle for [Or’s] rehabilitation and the release of everyone,” referring to the 73 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 who remain in Gaza.
Hamas has so far released 21 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and five Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Lebanon’s new PM forms country’s first government in over 2 years
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s new prime minister has formed the country’s first full-fledged government since 2022.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announces in a statement that he has accepted the resignation of the former caretaker government and signed a decree with new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, forming the new government.
Salam’s cabinet of 24 ministers, split evenly between Christian and Muslim sects, was formed less than a month after he was appointed, and comes at a time when Lebanon is scrambling to rebuild its battered southern region and maintain security along its southern border after a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah. A US-brokered ceasefire deal ended the war in November.
Five Thai hostages freed from Gaza last week released from the hospital, set to fly home
Five Thai civilians who were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and released from captivity in Gaza last week — Pongsak Thenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao and Surasak Lamnau — have been released from the hospital and are set to fly home to Thailand.
Footage posted to social media from the Shamir Medical Center in Petah Tikva shows staff lining the exit to the hospital, cheering and waving Thai and Israeli flags as the former hostages walk out of the building.
The men smile and wave and thank the crowd.
חמשת האזרחים התאילנדים שחזרו משבי חמאס לפני עשרה ימים שוחררו מהמרכז הרפואי שמיר אסף הרופא @Nov_reuveny
צילום: שבתאי יצחק עידן pic.twitter.com/C4Be4Be1d6— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 8, 2025
IDF says rocket sirens that sounded in Gaza border community were false alarms
The IDF says the rocket sirens that sounded in the Gaza border community of Nirim a short while ago were false alarms.
Several interceptor missiles were launched at a target, which was confirmed to have been a “false identification.”
Gallant: Israel has known about some hostages’ deteriorating health conditions for ‘some time’
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant says Israel has known about the deteriorating condition of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for “some time” after the three Israeli men kidnapped on October 7, 2023, were released this morning looking pale and gaunt.
“The shocking images to which the world was exposed today illustrate the difficult and worrying situation of some of the hostages and the deterioration in their health that Israel has known about for some time,” he writes in a post on X.
“This is another call to action for the path we must take – returning the hostages… it is the right Jewish, humane and moral act.”
The three former hostages — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 — were released this morning as part of an ongoing deal with Hamas.
Rocket sirens sounding in Gaza border community of Nirim; IDF probing cause
Rocket sirens are sounding in the Gaza border community of Nirim.
The IDF is investigating the cause.
Channel 12 reports that sounds of interception can be heard in nearby Kibbutz Be’eri.
צבע אדום (08/02/2025 15:53): נירים pic.twitter.com/XfuJIruTaZ
— צופר – צבע אדום (@tzevaadom_) February 8, 2025
Photos show former hostage Eli Sharabi reuniting with his mother, sister after release from Gaza
Released hostage Eli Sharabi reunites with his mother Chana and sister Osnat at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, February 8, 2025. His wife and two daughters were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (IDF).
Released hostage Eli Sharabi reunites with his mother Chana and sister Osnat at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, images show.
Sharabi is coming home to a tragic new reality — his wife and two teenage daughters were murdered in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, when he was kidnapped from their home on Kibbutz Be’eri. He reportedly did not know that they had been killed.
Released hostage Eli Sharabi reunites with his mother Chana and sister Osnat at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, January 8, 2025. (IDF)
IDF: Fighter jets struck Hamas weapon depot near Syrian town of Deir Ali, south of Damascus
Israeli fighter jets struck a weapon depot belonging to the Hamas terror group near the Syrian town of Deir Ali, south of Damascus, a short while ago, the IDF says.
According to the military, the weapons stored at the site were going to be used in attacks on Israeli troops.
“The Palestinian terror organizations, chief among them Hamas, exploit Syria to establish terror activity under Iranian guidance,” the IDF says, adding that it will operate against Hamas anywhere it tries to establish itself.
The IDF publishes footage of the strike.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו לפני זמן קצר, בהכוונת אגף המודיעין ופיקוד הצפון, מחסן אמצעי לחימה במרחב דיר עלי בדרום סוריה של ארגון הטרור חמאס, לאחר שאמצעי הלחימה יועדו לביצוע פעולות טרור נגד כוחות צה״ל >> pic.twitter.com/fTI8Ju2zsc
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 8, 2025
WATCH: Freed hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with wife, brother at IDF facility near Gaza, video calls daughters
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with his wife Raz and brother Kobi at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, as they make a video call to his three daughters, February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with his wife Raz and brother Kobi at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, footage shows.
“I can’t believe it. You’re so handsome, I love you,” Raz says to Ohad as they embrace.
In a video call with his daughters, Ben Ami says, “Joy, you bring me joy.”
Ben Ami’s daughters Yulie, Natalie, and Ella, and his mother Esther, are waiting for Ohad at a hospital in central Israel.
“Dad, how we missed you… You are the strongest in this world,” his daughters say in the video call.
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami reunites with brother Kobi at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, February 8, 2025. (IDF)
Eli Sharabi greeted by friends, well-wishers as he arrives at the hospital
People wave Israeli flags as a military helicopter carrying Israeli hostages arrives at the Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Released hostage Eli Sharabi is greeted by a crowd of well-wishers and friends as he arrives at the Sheba Medical Center in central Israel after being flown in a helicopter.
Sharabi pulls aside the curtain of the van and waves at the crowd.
“His eyes looked sad, but also there was happiness,” one friend tells Channel 12.
Sharabi is draped in an Israeli flag.
His wife and two daughters were killed on October 7.
Video shows Or Levy in emotional reunion with family members
Or Levy is embraced by his parents and brother at an IDF base on February 8, 2025, soon after his release from Hamas captivity. (Screencapture/IDF)
Released hostage Or Levy reunites with his parents and brother at an army facility near the Gaza border after 491 days in Hamas captivity, footage released by the IDF shows.
“It’s over,” Levy’s brother is heard saying as the two embrace and weep.
Levy’s parents then join in the hug. “We missed you,” his mother says.
Or Levy greeted by crowds of friends as he arrives at Sheba hospital
A helicopter carrying Or Levy lands at Sheba Medical Center in central Israel.
Levy waves as the van carrying him from the helicopter to the hospital drives past a crowd of cheering friends and supporters.
His family tells Channel 12 that he was shown videos of his 3-year-old son Almog during the flight.
They will wait to reunite them until an appropriate time, the report says, given Levy’s poor physical condition.
The hospital confirms his arrival and says that “medical teams and professionals at the hospital are fully prepared to receive him and provide comprehensive medical care, psychological support, and any additional assistance he may require.”
Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami are being taken to a hospital in central Israel
Released hostages Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, along with members of their families, are being being taken by an Israeli Air Force helicopter from an army facility near the Gaza border to a hospital in central Israel, the IDF says.
The two will meet the rest of their families there and receive medical care.
Report says freed hostage Eli Sharabi did not know his wife and two daughters were murdered by Hamas on October 7
Eli Sharabi was taken captive on October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists while his wife Lianne and their two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were killed. (Courtesy)
Released hostage Eli Sharabi did not know that his wife and two daughters were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, Channel 12 reports.
His mother and sister, who reunited with him on his arrival back in Israel, told him the terrible news, having prepared ahead of time for how to break it to him, says the report, which is not confirmed.
Sharabi was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas assault.
His wife Lianne and their daughters, Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were murdered in their home’s safe room and he and his brother Yossi were taken captive. Yossi has since been confirmed dead and Hamas is holding his body.
Sharabi reportedly told IDF officers when he was first transferred to the IDF after his release that he was looking forward to seeing his wife and daughters.
The report adds that Sharabi apparently was aware his brother had been killed.
Palestinians say 7 released prisoners admitted to hospital
A former Palestinian prisoner released by Israel is cheered by a crowd after stepping out of a bus in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 8, 2025.(Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Seven Palestinian prisoners who were among those freed by Israel as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal are admitted to hospitals upon arriving in Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club tells AFP.
“All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care, treatment, and examinations as a result of the brutality they were subjected to during the past months. There are seven who were transferred to the hospital,” says Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the NGO. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that seven inmates had been admitted to hospitals.
The claims came after three Israeli hostages were released looking emaciated and frail from Hamas captivity.
WATCH: Released hostages Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy transferred to Israeli forces in Gaza
Released hostage Or Levy is handed over to IDF forces in the Gaza Strip on February 8, 2025 (Screencapture/IDF)
Footage published by the military shows the moment released hostages Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy were handed over to IDF troops in the Gaza Strip by the Red Cross earlier this morning.
Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami is handed over to IDF forces in the Gaza Strip on February 8, 2025 (Screencapture/IDF)
Eli Sharabi, the third hostage released today, is not seen in the clip.
All three have since been brought back to Israel after 491 days in Hamas captivity.
Released hostage Or Levy being helicoptered to hospital
Israeli Air Force helicopters are seen ready for Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza, on February 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Released hostage Or Levy is being taken by an Israeli Air Force helicopter from an army facility near the Gaza border to a hospital in central Israel to meet with his family and receive medical care, the IDF says.
Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, who were released alongside Levy, are still meeting with their family members at the Re’im facility and will soon be taken to hospitals in central Israel.
Hostage czar says Israel has raised objections with mediators over condition of released hostages
Gal Hirsch, Israel's hostage coordinator, gives a statement after the release of three Israeli hostages (Screen grab)
The government’s hostage point-man Gal Hirsch reiterates Israel’s anger over the physical condition of three hostages released earlier today and says Jerusalem has raised objections with mediators.
“A message has been sent to the mediators and we will act as appropriate,” Hirsch says in a statement.
Like other senior Israeli officials, he does not specify what actions Israel will take.
Channel 12 reports that officials are considering cutting back aid flowing into Gaza.
Sa’ar says images show it’s Israelis being starved in Gaza, not Palestinians
Hostages, from left to right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, are paraded by Hamas gunmen before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says the images of emaciated Israeli hostages being released show that despite accusations of starvation in Gaza, it is the captives who are being deprived of food.
“For over a year, the entire international community has danced to the tune of the false propaganda of so-called ‘starvation’ in Gaza,” Sa’ar says in a post on X.
“But the images don’t lie: Hamas terrorists and other Gaza residents look perfectly fine. The Israeli hostages look like Holocaust survivors and they are the only ones in the pictures who clearly appear to have suffered from starvation,” he says.
“Hamas has committed crimes against humanity against civilian hostages. This Hamas-Nazi evil must be eradicated!”
For over a year, the entire international community has danced to the tune of the false propaganda of so-called ‘starvation’ in Gaza.
But the images don’t lie:
Hamas terrorists and other Gaza residents look perfectly fine.
The Israeli hostages look like Holocaust survivors and… pic.twitter.com/5wbDcztmtg— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) February 8, 2025
Released hostages said to have been reunited with family members
Families of the three released hostages react as the watch them being handed over to IDF forces on February 8, 2025 (Screencapture/IDF)
The three released hostages have met with family members at an IDF facility where they are being examined, Channel 12 reports.
There is no immediate confirmation from the IDF.
The report says the process at the IDF facility in Re’im is taking longer than in previous hostage releases due to the difficult physical condition of Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, who all appeared extremely thin and frail. While they were able to walk, they seemed to be unsteady on their feet.
They will meet additional family members once they are transferred to a hospital in central Israel.
Ohad Ben Ami’s daughter: I didn’t recognize him at first, but he’s come back alive; he survived!
Ella Ben Ami speaks at a press conference in Tel Aviv on January 18, 2024. (Screen capture/Facebook)
Ella Ben Ami, who phoned Channel 12 news on the morning of October 7, 2023, to tell Israel that she had seen a photograph of her father Ohad abducted to Gaza — and was unaware at the time that her mother had also been abducted — tells the same TV station of her relief and joy that her father has been released. (Her mother Raz was freed in November 2023.)
“I barely recognized him,” she says of her father Ohad. “It took me a second to realize that it was Dad.”
Hamas gunmen surround Ohad Ben Ami on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
But, she adds, “I’m sure we’ll get past that quickly. I simply want to hug him.
“He’s come back on his own two feet. He’s come back alive. He’s waved. He’s strong. He survived it!” she exults.
(L-R) Ella Ben Ami, Vicky Cohen and Ayelet Samerano at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on January 24, 2025. (Paulina Patimer)
“We’ll accompany him on the road to recovery.”
Family of hostages urge PM to bring all hostages home, criticize Netanyahu for staying in Washington
Brothers Eitan (left), Iair and Amos Horn, before Iair and Eitan were taken hostage on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy Horn family)
Amos Horn, whose brothers are being held hostage, appeals to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take action to ensure phases two and three of the hostage-ceasefire deal come to fruition in light of the poor condition of the three hostages released today.
“I hope your plans are to bring all the teams to Doha to sign the next phases in the deal, and to return of our abducted brothers and sisters who are in hellish and Holocaust-like conditions,” Amos Horn says, according to the Ynet news site.
Horn calls for the public to join the protests calling for the release of the hostages: “They cannot be left there any longer.”
Iair Horn is among the 33 hostages to be released in the deal’s first phase, while Eitan Horn is to remain in Gaza for now under the terms of the agreement.
Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage in Gaza, and also not expected to be released in the current round, blasts the premier for staying in Washington.
“It is worth mentioning that at the same time that Israeli citizens are being released [looking] like Holocaust survivors from Hamas captivity, Netanyahu is spending time in a luxury hotel suite in Washington, at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer, and the expense of the suffering of the hostages,” he says, according to Ynet.
Mother of hostage not set to be freed in next few weeks: PM must get everybody back, today
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, stands outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, after she was banned from entering to the building, on January 6, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage and is not set to be freed in the current, 42-day phase one of the deal, tells Channel 12: “I don’t think there’s a drop of blood in my body that isn’t boiling with rage” after watching the release of the three hostages today.
She notes that her son was abducted on the same day as the “beloved hostages” who were freed today. And seeing their condition, “I dread to think about how he will return to me, if at all.”
She says she and other families of hostages have been in the US in the past few days pleading with US President Donald Trump and his officials on behalf of Israeli hostages and that this is a surreal situation.
“The US administration is totally committed to the return of all the hostages, to the very last one.” Yet Prime Minister Netanyahu, she says, “continues to play political games at the expense” of those hostages who have not been released.
“A great deal of pressure” is being exerted by the US leadership on Netanyahu to complete the entire deal, “but to my sorrow the prime minister is being politically extorted” by his far-right coalition partners.
“How is it possible not to continue to phase two” of the deal?” Zangauker wails, and asks why the talks on phase two are not being expedited.
The prime minister has just vowed “to take steps” after seeing the condition of today’s three freed hostages, she notes. “The only step that needs to be taken is for the prime minister to phone the head of the Mossad” and the other Israeli negotiators, and “order them to immediately start phase two. There is no time. We are in a holocaust reality and we cannot allow it to go on.
“The people must take to the streets. The state needs to stop today… All of the hostages must be saved. My son is enduring a holocaust. Today’s survivors looked like they’d emerged from concentration camps… The prime minister must end the war and get everybody back, today,” she pleads.
Palestinian security prisoners greeted by cheering crowds in Ramallah
A released Palestinian security prisoner flashes the victory sign as he leaves a bus in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A bus carrying a group of Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel in exchange for hostages arrives in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The released inmates stepped off the bus one by one to a cheering crowd who had gathered since the morning in Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel begins release of Palestinian security prisoners
A bus transporting Palestinian security prisoners slated for release as part of Gaza ceasefire deal departs from Ofer Prison in the West Bank on February 8, 2025. (Al Jazeera screenshot)
Israeli forces are transporting a group of Palestinian prisoners from Ofer Prison in the West Bank to be freed in Ramallah, following the release of three hostages from Hamas captivity earlier today.
Another group of prisoners departs from Keziot Prison in the Negev, and will be released into the Gaza Strip.
This fifth batch of prisoners includes 111 captured by Israeli forces in Gaza over the course of the war, while the remaining 72 were arrested in years prior.
Of this latter group, 42 reside in the West Bank, three in East Jerusalem and 27 in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees’ Affairs.
IDF releases images of families watching released hostages handed over to IDF forces
The IDF releases footage of the families of Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami watching as the three are handed over to IDF forces in Gaza.
The family members, waiting at an IDF facility in Re’im near Gaza, cheer and applaud to see them in Israeli hands.
Released hostages will be taken to hospitals in central Israel, do not need urgent medical evacuation
Top row, left to right: Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami seen on a stage set up by Hamas in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, before the terror group handed them over to the Red Cross, February 8, 2025. Bottom row, the three Israelis as pictured before they were abducted. (Eyad Baba / AFP; courtesy)
Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami are undergoing an initial medical assessment at an IDF facility near the border community of Re’im after being released from Hamas captivity.
They will be airlifted to Ichilov and Sheba hospitals in central Israel shortly, and not to hospitals in the south.
Soroka and Barzilai hospitals in southern Israel have prepared to receive released hostages who require urgent medical care.
Released hostages arrive at IDF facility
Drawings by 3-year-old Almog Levy await his father Or, freed by Hamas on February 8, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami have arrived at an IDF facility near the border community of Re’im after being escorted out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.
The three will undergo an initial physical and mental checkup at the army site, and meet family members after 491 days in Hamas captivity.
The military releases pictures of family members of Or Levy placing pictures drawn by Levy’s 3-year-old son Almog. His wife Eynav was killed on October 7, 2023.
‘Starved, emaciated and pained’: Herzog says condition of released hostages a ‘crime against humanity’
Hamas gunmen parade hostage Or Levy before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
President Isaac Herzog protests the condition of the three released hostages, saying it constitutes a crime against humanity, and urges the world to act.
“This is what a crime against humanity looks like!” Herzog writes in a post on X.
“The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli — returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained — being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers. We take solace in the fact that they are being returned alive to the arms of their loved ones,” Herzog says.
“Completing the hostage deal is a humanitarian, moral and Jewish duty. It is essential to bring back all our sisters and brothers from the hell of captivity in Gaza — every last one of them,” the president urges.
This is what a crime against humanity looks like!
The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli—returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained—being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers. We take solace in the fact that they are…— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) February 8, 2025
Iran leader Khamenei meets top Hamas leaders in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with acting Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and two other leaders of the Palestinian terror group in Tehran, Iranian state media reports.
It gives no details about the meeting and only posts photos of Khamenei meeting al-Hayya, Mohammed Darwish, head of Hamas’ leadership council, and top Hamas official Nizar Awadallah.
Iran is a main backer of Hamas.
The meeting comes as Hamas frees three Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire deal.
Head and members of Hamas’ leadership council met with Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on Saturday Feb. 8, 2025.#Iran #Hamas #Gaza #Trump #إسرائيل #فلسطين pic.twitter.com/8UtFMkuABb
— Syeda Hadia Batool (@batool_hadia_) February 8, 2025
Netanyahu’s office says harsh images of released hostages will be met with response
Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is paraded by Hamas gunmen before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, February 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office welcomes the release of the three Israeli hostages, but says that Israel will not accept the harsh images seen in their handover.
“The government of Israel embraces the three returnees,” says the statement from Netanyahu, who is spending the weekend in the US.
“The shocking images we saw today will not pass without response,” the statement says.
The three, Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, appeared severely malnourished and frail as they were made to take part in a Hamas propaganda ceremony.
“The government, together with security officials, will support them and their families. Israel is committed to bringing back all the hostages and missing,” the PMO statement says.
A second statement by Netanyahu’s office, says Israel will take unspecified actions.
“Due to the harsh condition of the three hostages and the repeated violations of the Hamas terror groups, the prime minister has ordered that Israel will not gloss over this and will take action as needed,” the statement says.
Officials decline to specify what actions Israel will take.
Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami are back in Israel after 491 days in Hamas captivity
Friends and relatives of Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7, 2023, react as they watch the live broadcast of their release from Hamas captivity in Gaza, at Kibbutz Be'eri, Feb. 8, 2025 (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami have crossed the border into Israel, after 491 days in Hamas captivity, the IDF says.
The three were escorted out of the Gaza Strip by Israeli special forces, after being handed over to them by the Red Cross.
The IDF is bringing them to a facility near the border for an initial physical and mental checkup, and to meet with family members.
October 7 families group says images from Gaza handover ‘echo photos of Holocaust survivors’
Israeli captives, from left to the right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, on stage before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The October Council, representing families directly affected by the Hamas invasion and slaughter on October 7, 2023, says the pictures from Gaza of the three released hostages “echo photographs of Holocaust survivors, and serve as a further reminder of the worst failure in the history of the state, and the need to investigate it fully.”
“Eli, Or and Ohad’s families also need answers,” the group says in a statement.
“How was it that citizens were abducted from Israel to the Gaza Strip? Why did it take almost 500 days to get them back? And how can it be that, even now, living hostages are held in inhumane conditions in tunnels?”
The group repeats its demands for a state commission of inquiry, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is resisting.
Released hostages in hands of IDF in Gaza
Close relatives of Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi cheer as they watch on a television screen his release along with two other hostages from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, at the family home in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2025.(Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami are now in the hands of IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, the military says.
Hamas handed the three over to the Red Cross at a stage in Deir al-Balah, and they were then taken to Israeli forces inside Gaza.
The three released hostages will be brought out of the Strip to an army facility near the border community of Re’im for an initial checkup.
Health Ministry urges public to limit exposure to Hamas propaganda images of hostage release from Gaza
Friends and relatives of Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi watch the live broadcast of their release from Hamas captivity in Gaza, at Kibbutz Be'eri on Feb. 8, 2025 (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
As disturbing images and videos of the three released hostages, Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy emerge from Gaza looking gaunt and haunted, the Health Ministry urges the public to exercise caution and personal responsibility in managing their exposure to such content.
“A psychological war is being waged that can cause harm to us and our loved ones,” warns Dr. Gilad Bodenheimer, head of the ministry’s mental health division.
“We urge the public to minimize exposure to distressing images and videos and to be mindful of what they, their children and their loved ones are seeing.”
Families react with anguish to see condition of released hostages
Michal Cohen, the mother of Ohad Ben Ami, watches a broadcast of his release in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2025 (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Many family members of the three released hostages burst into tears as they see their loved ones paraded on a Hamas stage before their release.
The three appear very frail, pale and gaunt.
Michal Cohen, the mother of Ohad Ben Ami, says she was devastated to see her son look so thin and unwell.
“He looks terrible. He is 57, but he looks ten years older. It is so sad for me to see him like this,” she tells Channel 12 news.
Tal Levy, brother of returning hostage Or Levy, tells Channel 12 that his brother “looks very, very thin, and it’s indeed very difficult to see him,” but “he’s coming back and he’ll recover.”
He stresses that “today more than ever: all the hostages need to come back… we must see this deal through.”
Or’s 3-year-old son Almog, whose mother was murdered on October 7, 2023, is keenly awaiting his father’s return, and has drawn pictures to greet Tal says.
“I told him in tears that his father is coming back. He asked why I was crying, and I said: it’s tears of excitement this time.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum urges the release of the remainder of Israeli hostages, following the handover of three.
“The disturbing images from the release of Ohad, Eli and Or serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt — there is no time to waste for the hostages!” reads the statement.
IDF says it has been informed that hostages are in the hands of Red Cross
From left: Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami are seen on a stage in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, at a Hamas propaganda ceremony on their release from captivity, Feb. 8, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)
The IDF says the Red Cross has notified the military that released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami were handed over to them by Hamas.
The Red Cross is now bringing them to IDF and Shin Bet forces inside Gaza to then be escorted out of the Strip, the military adds.
Three Israeli hostages handed over to Red Cross after Hamas propaganda ceremony
Hamas gunmen surround(L-R) Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy on a stage before handing them over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Three Israeli hostages are handed over to the Red Cross, looking gaunt and pale, after being put through a propaganda ceremony held by Hamas in central Gaza.
Ohad Ben Ami, 56, is the first to be brought out of the Hamas vehicle, followed by Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34.
After the vehicle with the hostages is brought into the area, a Hamas operative wearing a green face mask goes up on stage, giving a fiery speech, where he announces that the three hostages will be released.
Hamas gunmen surround Ohad Ben Ami on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
The stage has captions in Arabic, Hebrew and English saying “We’re the flood, the war’s next day,” an apparent message to US President Donald Trump who said this week that the US would take over Gaza after its residents were sent elsewhere.
Two Red Cross officials are then brought onto the stage to sign the release documents.
Ben Ami is the first to be brought out of the Hamas vehicle, followed by Sharabi, and Levy.
All three are supported by Hamas operatives, holding up a certificate in front of them. All three look very thin and pale and gaunt.
Hamas operatives escort Or Levy on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Levy is dressed in olive green clothes meant to look like an IDF uniform.
Ben Ami and Sharabi are dressed in brown clothes with their names printed on them to look like prison garb.
The three are made to give propaganda statements while standing on the stage.
Eli Sharabi is walked by Hamas gunmen in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, ahead of his release, Feb. 8, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)
Red Cross vehicles arrive at hostage handover site
Red Cross vehicles make their way through crowd ahead of a hostage handover in Gaza's Deir al-Balah on February 8, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)
A convoy of Red Cross vehicles arrives at a hostage handover location in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.
Hamas will hand over hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami to the Red Cross. They will then be brought to IDF troops in Gaza and be escorted out of the Strip.
Despite the heavy presence of Hamas gunmen at the site, the vehicles seem to have difficulty moving through the crowd of Palestinian onlookers before they are cleared out of the way.
Israel and the mediators have in the past warned Hamas against a repeat of the chaotic scenes that accompanied the release of hostages Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes 10 days ago.
Israel preparing to release 183 Palestinian prisoners
Israeli troops gather with their vehicles inside the Ofer military prison complex, located between Ramallah and Beitunia in the West Bank, before releasing Palestinian prisoners on February 8, 2025 (Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Israel’s Prison Service is preparing to release Palestinian security prisoners from Keziot Prison in the Negev, Hebrew media reports.
Only after the release of the three Israeli hostages is confirmed will the prisoners be transported by the prison service’s Nahshon unit from the location. Another group of prisoners will be released from Ofer Prison in the West Bank.
Israel plans to release 183 security prisoners today, including 18 serving life sentences.
Of the 183, 111 prisoners were detained in Gaza over the course of the war and the remaining 72 reside in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Seven of the prisoners will be deported upon their release.
IDF says helicopters in place to airlift released hostages to hospital
Israeli Air Force helicopters are seen ready for Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza, on February 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says Israeli Air Force helicopters are ready for the three Israeli hostages who are set to be released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip soon.
The choppers will take hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami to hospitals in central Israel after an initial checkup at an army facility near the Gaza border.
Red Cross vehicles heading to hostage handover site
A convoy of Red Cross vehicles is heading to a hostage handover location in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, an Israeli defense official says.
Hamas will hand over hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami to the Red Cross. They will then be brought to IDF troops in Gaza and be escorted out of the Strip.
Mother of hostage Or Levy says family don’t know if he is aware that his wife was killed on Oct. 7
Eynav (left) and Or Levy (Courtesy)
Geula Levy, the mother of Or Levy, who is expected to be released by Hamas later today, says it is not clear if he knows that his wife Eynav was killed on October 7, 2023.
“We don’t know if Or knows that his wife was murdered, but from what we have heard the terrorists very much enjoyed telling the hostages that their loved ones had been killed and causing them pain and suffering,” she tells Army Radio.
Levy, 34, was kidnapped from the Supernova rave near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7. His wife Eynav was killed, and their now three-year-old son Almog has been staying with his grandparents since.
“Almog shouted ‘Dad is coming back, Dad is coming back,'” she says. “It was very emotional. We are taking drawings made by Almog to bring to Or.”
Hamas says Israeli forces raiding West Bank, East Jerusalem homes of security prisoners slated for release
Palestinian prisoners are greeted as they exit a Red Cross bus after being released from Israeli prison amid a hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, February 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
The Hamas prisoners’ media office says Israeli security forces are conducting raids on the homes of Palestinian security prisoners slated for release today in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The IDF did not immediately comment. In previous prisoner releases, the military has said it made calls to the families of all those released, as well as visited their homes, warning them against celebrations and parades.
IDF expects hostage handover to start at 10 a.m.
A stage set up by Hamas in central Gaza ahead of a hostage release on February 8, 2025 (Screncapture/YouTube)
The IDF expects Hamas to release hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami starting at around 10 a.m. from one location in the central Gaza Strip, a defense official says.
Hamas has been setting up a stage for the handover to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah.
All three hostages will be escorted out of Gaza by IDF troops to an army facility near Re’im, where they will undergo an initial physical and mental checkup and meet their families.
Afterward, they will be taken to Ichilov and Sheba hospitals in central Israel.
Hamas setting up stage for hostage release in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah
A stage set up by Hamas in central Gaza ahead of a hostage release on February 8, 2025 (Screncapture/YouTube)
Hamas has begun setting up a stage in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah where the hostage release is expected to take place.
The location is a new one, with the terror group shifting sites where it conducts the releases.
The stage has a a sign of a fist with a Palestinian flag, and the words “total victory” written in Hebrew at the bottom over a picture of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has vowed the war will not end until Israel achieves “total victory.”
White pickup trucks with machine guns mounted on the back flank the stage and masked and armed Hamas gunmen can be seen forming a cordon surrounding the site.
It is not immediately clear if there will be one or more sites where the three hostages, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34, will be freed.
Trump announces he’s revoking Biden’s security clearance, in payback move
Then-US President Joe Biden and then-US President-elect Donald Trump walk out to the presidential limousine, as they depart the White House, January 20, 2025, in Washington, en route to the Capitol. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
PALM BEACH, Florida — US President Donald Trump says that he’s revoking former president Joe Biden’s security clearance and ending the daily intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.
Trump makes the announcement on social media shortly after arriving at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.
“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” Trump writes. “He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents.”
Biden doesn’t immediately comment on the move.
Biden ended Trump’s intelligence briefings after Trump helped spur efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. At the time, Biden said Trump’s “erratic” behavior should prevent him from getting the intel briefings.
In his post, Trump cites the special counsel report last year into Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying, “The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted with sensitive information.”
He ends his post by saying, “I will always protect our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Health Ministry: Three hostages slated for release tomorrow will be brought to hospitals in central Israel
The Health Ministry says that the three hostages, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34, scheduled to be released on Saturday morning from Gaza will arrive at either Ichilov Hospital or Sheba Medical Center after an initial medical assessment. Barzilai Medical Center and Soroka Medical Center will be prepared to provide immediate medical care if needed.
Medical teams and professionals at the hospitals are ready to receive them and to do everything necessary to provide medical, psychological, and any other required care.
The ministry reiterates its call for the public to exercise personal responsibility in managing exposure to news content and videos from Gaza, especially for children.
The ministry urges the public not to spread rumors regarding the hostages and to rely only on official sources for updates.
The ministry also reminds the public that these are sensitive moments for the returnees and their families, asking that their privacy be respected.
Protecting the privacy of the returnees is essential to ensuring their transition from captivity back to life, recovery and rehabilitation.
Report: Hostages will be handed over at two locations in Gaza, as in previous rounds
Hamas will hand over the three Israeli hostages from more than one location in the Gaza Strip, as in the previous two rounds, according to Palestinian media reports.
The release is expected to take place Saturday morning on Salah ad-Din Street in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Quds News Network, with one release at 8:30 a.m. and another at noon.
There is no official confirmation of the schedule for the release, which comes amid a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Palestinian terror group that came into effect last month.
read more: