Hamas released three more Israeli hostages on Saturday as part of an exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in a highly theatrical handover in which the men were made to give speeches effectively at gunpoint.
The hostage release is the fifth in a tense series of exchanges that are part of a 42-day cease-fire deal that went into effect last month pausing the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Hamas agreed to incrementally release 33 of the nearly 100 remaining hostages in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal.
Here’s a closer look at the Israelis released on Saturday:
Ohad Ben Ami
Mr. Ben Ami, who was 54 when he was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, was the kibbutz’s accountant and is an avid cyclist. His wife, Raz Ben Ami, was also taken hostage but was released in the first cease-fire deal in November 2023. Mr. Ben Ami is a dual Israeli and German citizen.
“The only important thing is for Ohad to come back,” Raz Ben Ami told The New York Times in August, adding: “It’s still hard for me to imagine our life after this.”
Ella Ben Ami, one of the couple’s three daughters, was a vocal advocate for a cease-fire deal. She was critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to speak in Congress in July, saying he should not travel abroad until there was an agreement to free the hostages. A video posted on social media in August, showed Ms. Ben Ami near the border with Gaza calling her father’s name with a microphone in hand and saying she missed him.
In December, on Mr. Ben Ami’s second birthday in captivity, his family marked the day with a bike ride and a ceremony, according to his brother, Kobi, who told Israeli news media that around 200 people joined them as they rode along a bicycle path created to commemorate 11 cyclists killed on Oct. 7 and hostages, including Mr. Ben Ami. He said the family had not received any signs he was alive since he was captured.
Or Levy
Mr. Levy was 33 when he was taken hostage. His wife, Eynav Levy, died on Oct. 7. Their son, who was just two at the time, was with Ms. Levy’s mother while his parents went to the Nova music festival, an event held just a few miles from the Gaza border that was a key target of the assault.
Mr. Levy texted his mother during the attack, including from a shelter that was stormed by the militants. The Israeli military later informed the family that Ms. Levy’s body was found in the shelter and that Mr. Levy was being held in Gaza.
The couple both worked in tech and lived near Tel Aviv. Mr. Levy’s older brother, Michael Levy, spoke about his younger brother’s dire situation at an event in California in March, one of many trips he made around the world to press for a hostage deal. At the time, he said he had not received indications his brother was dead but was not very optimistic about a deal.
Eli Sharabi
Mr. Sharabi was also abducted from Be’eri, and his wife and their two daughters were killed in the attack.
His brother Yossi was also taken as a hostage to Gaza, where he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the Israeli military later told his family.
His brother, Sharon, said in December that news of progress on a cease-fire deal had prompted “new hope among the families of hostages that they might see their loved ones again — and at the same time, tension.”
“We lost four people,” he said. “We don’t intend to fill a fifth coffin.”
