Live Update
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Netanyahu’s office: ‘The government of Israel embraces the three returnees’
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel

People gather around a vehicle of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City for the handover of three Israeli hostages on January 19, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)
The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, are in the hands of Israeli forces.
“The government of Israel embraces the three returnees,” the PMO says in a statement, adding that their families have been told that they are in Israeli hands. “The government of Israel is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing.”