From the Liveblog of
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Hamas official says female civilian hostage Arbel Yehud is alive and will be released next Saturday
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
An official from the Hamas terror group tells the Reuters news agency that mediators have been informed that civilian female hostage Arbel Yehud is alive and will be released next Saturday.
A similar message is conveyed to the Al Jazeera network by the terror group. However, there is no formal announcement from Hamas on the matter.
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad source tells the Qatari network that they are holding Yehud, while falsely claiming she is a soldier.
The comment comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel will not allow Palestinians to return to the northern Gaza Strip until Hamas “arranges the release” of Yehud.
According to Israel, Hamas violated the deal by releasing female hostage soldiers before all of the living civilian women captives.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced its punitive decision soon after four hostage female soldiers — Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy — were freed by Hamas in Gaza. The decision was reportedly taken during security consultations held by Netanyahu last night, soon after Hamas had released the names of the four female soldiers it was freeing, but announced after the releases so as not to jeopardize them.
The Times of Israel Community.