Three Israelis and five Thais were redeemed from terrorist captivity in the Gaza Strip on Thursday as part of Hamas’s truce with Jerusalem, 482 days after they were taken captive during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Israeli civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, and Gadi Mozes, 80, were handed over by Hamas to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday afternoon in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
Mozes was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his wife, Margalit, who was one of the first captives released in the 2023 truce.
The five released Thais — all foreign workers who taken hostage during the Oct. 7 cross-border assault — were named by the Israel Defense Forces as Thaenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakhan, Sriaoun Watchara, Saethao Bannawat and Rumnao Surasak.
“According to information provided by the Red Cross, seven hostages, including an Israeli male and female hostage and five foreign nationals, were handed over to it and are making their way to the IDF and (Israel Security Agency) forces in the Gaza Strip,” the military confirmed.
The army subsequently confirmed that the seven returnees have “now crossed the border into Israeli territory with IDF and ISA forces.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Jerusalem appealed to mediators Qatar and Egypt following the “horrific scenes” of Yehud and Mozes being publicly taunted by their captors and a mob of thousands of Palestinians as they were transferred to the Red Cross.
“This is further proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization,” Jerusalem’s Prime Minister’s Office stated, demanding that Doha and Cairo work to “guarantee the safety of our hostages.”
Yehud and Mozes had been held by Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attack alongside Hamas.
Islamic Jihad issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that it had “completed the procedures for handing over the hostages Arbel Yehud and Gadi Mozes,” in what Hebrew media interpreted as the terror group having transferred the two to Hamas ahead of their release.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20, who was kidnapped from the IDF field observers’ base in Nahal Oz, was transferred into Red Cross custody following a Hamas handover ceremony in Gaza’s north.
“Agam Berger, accompanied by IDF and (Israel Security Agency) forces, recently crossed the border into the territory of the State of Israel,” the military stated. Berger was reunited with her family at the reception point near the border before being evacuated to a hospital, it said.
“Thank God we have reached this moment and our heroine Agam has returned to us after 482 days in the hands of the enemy,” the family said in a statement after the reunion. “Our girl is strong, believing and brave.”
“We would like to thank the security forces and the entire people of Israel for all the support and prayers,” added the family’s statement.
Netanyahu’s office stated, “The government, together with all security officials, will accompany her and her family. The Israeli government is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing.”
The PMO statement concluded with a quote from the Bible: “And I will return the captivity of My people Israel” (Amos 9:14).
Dr. Lena Koren Feldman, director of Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital, told Israel’s Channel 12 News that the four IDF soldiers kidnapped alongside Berger and who were released by Hamas on Saturday screamed with excitement when they saw her being freed.
As Berger was being released, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met in Jerusalem with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri to discuss the implementation of the hostage deal.
Witkoff, who arrived in the Jewish state on Wednesday, met on Thursday afternoon with the four previously freed soldiers at Beilinson Hospital. The presidential envoy also visited “Hostage Square” in central Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem is preparing to free several high-profile Palestinian terrorists in exchange for the hostages, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday. Among the 110 terrorists scheduled to be released are Zakaria Zubeidi, Mohammad Abu Warda and Sami Jaradat, according to Channel 12.
Zubeidi led Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Samaria city of Jenin and briefly escaped from Israel’s high-security Gilboa Prison in 2021.
Since Zubeidi was not convicted of murder but of other terror offenses, he will not be deported and is expected to be released back to Samaria.
Abu Warda and Jaradat were responsible for terrorist attacks that combined killed 66 Israelis in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Both are scheduled to be deported and banned from returning to Israeli territory.
However, an Israeli security source told the country’s Kan News that Jerusalem’s political echelon had decided to freeze the release of the Arab terrorists in response to the way Yehud and Mozes were treated on Thursday.
The IDF said on Thursday morning that its Judea and Samaria Division had completed “preparations for the next wave of released terrorists, by reinforcing defense at checkpoints and in various sectors.”
The IDF voted to take immediate action against expected “disturbances and terror activities” surrounding the release of terrorists into the area.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) also made “warning calls” to families of terrorists who are expected to be released, it noted.