Eight More Hostages Freed Amid Rising Tensions
JERUSALEM, Israel – Eight hostages, including foreign workers, abducted by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, were released Thursday and taken to several different Israeli hospitals. At the same time, President Donald Trump's Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff returned to the region.
This is the third hostage release in two weeks, part of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire release agreement.
Agam Berger, one of the hostages, was paraded on a Hamas stage set up in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
#Hallelujah!! Released hostage soldier #Agam Berger reunites with her parents for the first time after 482 days in Hamas captivity in #Gaza. Please #pray for her complete healing.
— Jerusalem Dateline (@JlemDateline) January 30, 2025
: IDF Spokesperson Unit pic.twitter.com/fe1SYHVQuC
To celebrate her release, her family was dancing with a Torah scroll back in Israel, thanking God for bringing her home.
Berger, the last female observation soldier to be freed, was handed over to the Red Cross, and transferred to the Israel Defense Forces, then finally reunited with her family.
Arbel Yehud and 80-year-old Gadi Moses, who were kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz, were held by Islamic Jihad. The terror group put out a video on Thursday showing the two being reunited before their release.
The release was delayed as terrorists were seen trying to walk an anxious-looking Arbel through mobs of Gazans pressing in on them. Finally, word was delivered that she and Gadi had been handed over to the Red Cross and turned over to the IDF.
In a surprise development, five Thai workers held hostage by Hamas were also freed and walked through mobs of Palestinians to meet the Red Cross. Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak were among ten foreign nationals working in farming communities abducted on October 7th and still held by Hamas. Five are still hostage including two believed to be deceased.
Three more Israeli hostages as yet unnamed are expected to gain their freedom on Saturday.
The Prime Minister's office put out a statement saying the "Government of Israel is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing." It quoted the scripture from Amos 9:14, "And I will return the captivity of My people Israel."
After today's release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said in a statement that he viewed "with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages. This is additional proof of the inconceivable brutality of the Hamas terrorist organization." He called on mediators to make sure that such scenes didn't happen again.
Later, he officially delayed the prisoner release "until the safe exit of our hostages in the next phases is assured." He demanded the mediators make sure it happens.
Afterwards, they released a statement saying that the prisoner release would go ahead because, "the mediators have conveyed a commitment, according to which the safe exit of our hostages who are due to be released in the next phases has been assured."
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, "While the scenes of abuse and terror towards the hostages as they were transferred to the Red Cross were horrifying, we are moved to tears by the return from captivity of Agam Berger, Arbel Yehoud, and Gadi Mozes, along with the five Thai citizens released today."
He said they had "endured hell with unparalleled bravery," and that Israel would not rest and not be silent "until every one of our sisters and brothers have been returned from captivity in Gaza. Till the last one returns!"
Author and Jerusalem Post columnist Gil Troy told CBN News that even if the deal is worrying, Israel made many gains in Gaza and Lebanon since the agreement was first proposed last May.
"Since May, we've seen Hezbollah humiliated, Iran weakened," Troy explained. "We've seen Hamas further degraded. And so even though Hamas is celebrating, they're celebrating in ruins. Even though Hamas is celebrating, they've lost over 20,000 of their top terrorists. So I am obviously worried, but I'm also rejoicing because thanks again to American support and to Israeli grit. We have seen a change."
Troy believes that even if the previous U.S. administration put the brakes on Israel, America is Israel's great friend.
"Thank you, America, for being with us on April 13th when Iran sent 300 missiles," Troy said. "Thank you, America, for being with us on October 1st and (thanks) America for being with us every single day since October 7th – in fact, for decades before. Because together, this is a fight for the West. Together. This is a fight for truth."
Netanyahu met again with Witkoff, the U.S. envoy, just a few days before the prime minister is set to be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump at the White House in his second term.
Some have blamed Witkoff for strong-arming the Israelis into accepting a bad ceasefire deal with Hamas. The envoy has deep ties with Qatar, which is the largest financial backer of Hamas.
The three-part hostage deal should lead to Hamas releasing all the remaining hostages, but it forces Israel to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who have committed acts of terror and murdered Jews.
In a surprise move, Witkoff visited the families of the hostages and pledged to bring them all home. Walking through crowds of thankful Israelis, Witkoff said, “I think it is showing what wonderful, how joyous the people of Israel are, and all over the world.”
Just two days before Israel cuts all ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the chief U.N. body is giving aid to the Palestinians.
Israel accuses some UNRWA workers of having taken part in the deadly October 7th attack and alleges many others in the agency have deep ties to Hamas.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel insisted, "We will not cooperate with an organization and its workers (who) committed crimes against humanity, murdered our people, and participated in the 7th of October massacre."
Haskell claims plenty of aid is reaching the Palestinians without UNRWA.
"In this past week alone, approximately 4,200 trucks carrying aid have entered the Gaza Strip," she noted.
President Trump is suggesting Israel's neighbors Jordan and Egypt take in many of the Palestinians made homeless during the war in Gaza.
However, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is outright rejecting the notion, hinting the Palestinians are too dangerous for the Egyptians to take in. He declared, "I would like to reassure the Egyptian people that harm to Egypt's national security could never be tolerated or allowed."
Yet el-Sissi contends Israelis should trust that the Palestinians will be no danger to them if Israel puts them in control of Israel's biblical homeland of Judea and Samaria, the so-called West Bank.
"The two-state solution, side by side. Security and peace for the Israeli citizen, and security and safety for the Palestinian citizen, el-Sissi stated.
Many Israelis point out they gave the Palestinians Gaza through the 2005 disengagement and Hamas turned it into a deadly terrorist state dedicated to annihilating the Jews and Israel.
Meanwhile, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Syrian rebel who led the overthrow of the Assad regime in Damascus is now Syria's interim president. Al-Sharaa announced, "Victory itself is a duty, for the task of the victors is heavy and their responsibility is great."
An Islamist, al-Sharaa used to lead Syria's version of al-Qaeda. Now he swears he's moderated his views and will lead a democratic government. Still, al-Sharaa insists that Syria will come under Sharia law, which in many Muslim countries has stripped or restricted the religious rights of non-Muslims.
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