This Thursday, the Hamas group released two Israeli prisoners in Gaza, in the midst of the ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist group that will last until next Friday.

More hostages were expected to be released in the afternoon.

Mia Schem, 21, and Amit Soussana, 40, were handed over to the Red Cross and then transferred to the security fence that entered the Gaza Strip and into Israeli territory and then transferred to a military base in Hatzerim, in the Negev Desert.

Israel releases thirty Palestinian women and children after the release of sixteen hostages by the Islamist group Hamas

Schem had been the first prisoner in which the group had sent a video in which she appeared after the start of the offensive between the two regions and had a wound on her arm and asked for her release. The young woman was captured on October 7 while at the festival bordering Gaza where Palestinian militiamen carried out a major massacre; media such as Haaretz speak of around 360 deaths.

Soussana, for her part, is a lawyer and lived in the kibbutz Kfar Aza, an Israeli community that also borders Gaza, where she was kidnapped while hiding in the shelter of her home.

“More hostages are expected to be transferred in the coming hours,” the army added this afternoon. According to media reports, Hamas sent a list of ten prisoners, including eight Israelis and two people with dual Russian-Israeli nationality, as part of the ten daily hostages of Israeli nationality it is handing over as part of the ceasefire.

Isolated in the dark and poorly fed, the harsh conditions of the Hamas hostages’ captivity are beginning to be revealed.

With the release of these two women, 99 prisoners have now been released from Gaza, including 75 Israelis and 24 foreigners. As part of the hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas, 210 Palestinian prisoners have also been released since last Friday. Almost all of them are women and minors on both sides.

The reaction of Schem’s mother was observed via video, who is already hoping to reunite with her daughter in the shortest possible time. (JO)