Weekly Israeli Bites
On day 471, Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher, and Romi Gonen are back home.
Good evening, and Welcome back to Weekly Israeli Bites.
On Wednesday, 467 days after grandparents, mothers, children, and wives were torn from their families and held captive in Gaza, the Israeli government and the Palestinian terror group Hamas announced a hostage release deal. This agreement, brokered by international partners including the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar, comes after more than 15 months of conflict that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing over 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 hostages.
Here’s the essential information regarding the deal: Hamas is freeing hostages, which include Israeli and American citizens, while Israel is releasing Palestinian security prisoners, some of whom are convicted terrorists serving life sentences.
The three-phase agreement covers a span of six weeks and includes the release of 33 hostages, including 12 women and children, men aged 50 and above, and injured civilians, including two Americans.
During the first phase of the agreement, Israel agreed to withdraw from specific population centers in Gaza, facilitate the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, and allow the entry of 600 humanitarian aid trucks daily, up from roughly 250 per day, while maintaining control of the strategic Gaza-Egypt border region known as the Philadelphi corridor. Hamas has used this border to smuggle into the Gaza Strip vast amounts of weapons, which the terror group then utilizes to carry out attacks on Israel.
Today at 4 PM, 3 of the 33 hostages scheduled for return have been released and are now reunited with their families in Israel.
The girls who have been released today:
Romi Gonen, 24, was dancing with her friends at the Nova Music Festival, celebrating peace, love, and unity, when Hamas terrorists invaded and attacked the festival, massacring, raping, and abducting people from all around the world. She was shot and kidnapped while escaping from the Nova Music Festival.
Doron Steinbrecher, 31, was brutally abducted while still in her pajamas from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Emily Damari, 28, a dual Israeli and British citizen, was abducted by Hamas terrorists from her quiet home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She was shot and injured.
The horrors these three young women endured over the past 15 months are unimaginable. Today, I salute and embrace them and their families as they reunite after 471 days. It is important for me to acknowledge the brave soldiers who gave their lives and those who were injured to ensure that this moment was possible.
This moment in Israeli history and life is excruciating, one of extremes. The happiness over the deal that will repatriate hostages held by Hamas for 15 months, in dribbles, is euphoric. The despair over those left behind is boundless.
We cannot and will not forget for a moment that 94 hostages - including women, children and elderly men - remain in Hamas captivity.
Additionally, this morning, in a covert operation conducted by the Israeli Security Agency and the IDF, the body of Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul was recovered and brought back to Israel. Shaul fell in battle on July 20, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. He has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for almost 11 years since, and our efforts to bring him home have not stopped since.
Israel is due to release more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists and murderers during the 42-day ceasefire. The first prisoners have been released today from Ofer Security Prison and are already on their way back to the Gaza Strip.
Today, Israel's Justice Ministry published a list of 735 terrorists who will be released as part of the hostage deal. Among those being released is Ahmed Barghouti, a close aide and relative of Marwan Barghouti, who is serving 13 life sentences. Ahmed was responsible for supplying weapons to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, where he served as their operational commander.
Barghouti was convicted for orchestrating the bombing at Tel Aviv's Seafood Market that killed three Israelis and wounded 30, an attack in Jerusalem that killed a policewoman and wounded nine, a shooting attack during a bat mitzvah celebration in Hadera in which six Israelis were killed, and 26 were injured, and a bombing on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem that killed two women.
The hostage deal was not an equal exchange. Romi, Emily, Doron, and the rest of the hostages were brutally abducted and have been held captive since the 7th of October for the sole reason of being Jewish.
There is a huge difference when compared to releasing terrorists with blood on their hands.