13 Israelis from the group of freed hostages have been handed over to Israel, IDF says
William Burgess
The 13 Israeli hostages released as part of the formal Israel-Hamas agreement have been handed over to the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday, military officials said.
One hostage was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital, and the other 12 taken through the border fence directly from Gaza to Israel.
Israel's prime minister's office has released the names of the freed hostages. They are:
- Abigail Edan, 4
- Hagar Brodutch, 40
- Ofry Brodutch, 10
- Yuval Brodutch, 8
- Oria Brodutch, 4
- Chen Goldstein Almog, 49
- Agam Goldstein Almog, 17
- Gal Goldstein Almog, 11
- Tal Goldstein Almog, 9
- Alma Avraham, 84
- Adrienne (Aviva) Siegel, 62
- Ela Elyakim, 8
- Dafna Elyakim, 14
Other hostages released today: The IDF and Hamas each said a total of 17 hostages were freed Sunday.
Israel said the four other hostages were headed through the Rafah border crossing, like the hostages that were released Friday and Saturday.
That group was made up of three Thai nationals and a dual Russian-Israeli citizen, who was released as a special case, outside the parameters of the Israel-Hamas truce, which does not allow for the release of adult men.
This post has been updated with details about the citizenship of the two groups of hostages released Sunday.
Lauren Izso in Tel Aviv contributed to this reporting.