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Only remaining teen hostages and Mia Shem, seen in Hamas hostage video, among 8 Israelis freed from Gaza on Thursday
(JTA) — The 21-year-old woman who was seen in the first hostage video Hamas published following its attack was among the eight people released alive from Gaza on Thursday, on the seventh day of a tenuous truce between the terror group and Israel.
Mia Shem was featured in a video nine days after Oct. 7, when Hamas invaded Israel, killing 1,200 and taking more than 240 hostages. Shem was abducted from the Nova music festival at Kibbutz Re’im, where 360 people died, and was seen in the video receiving medical care in Gaza.
On Thursday, her arm was bandaged as she was released and reunited with her mother. Her aunt said she had been treated by a veterinarian in Gaza.
Shem was one of two women released early in the day before a long lull, after which six more hostages were transferred to the Red Cross for release to Israel. Those freed on Thursday include the last two teens who were held hostage, a brother and sister.
It was a departure from the routine established over the past week, during which at least 10 women and children were released daily, as required by the truce agreement. The future of the ceasefire was uncertain as of midnight Israel time.
Along with Shem, the other hostages released Thursday are:
Aisha Ziadna, 17, and Bilal Ziadna, 18, two Bedouin Israelis who were abducted with other members of their family while tending cows on a kibbutz near their home in the city of Rahat. Their father and older brother remain hostages. Another member of their family, Youssef Ziadna, is credited with saving 30 people at the Nova festival.
Sapir Cohen, 29. She is the girlfriend of Sasha Trupanov, whose mother and grandmother were released on Wednesday but who remains a hostage.
Shani Goren, 29. She reportedly cared for a child hostage, Eitan Yahalomi, whom she knew from Kibbutz Nir Oz and who was released on Monday.
Ilana Gritzewsky, 30. An immigrant from Mexico, Gritzewsky was captured at her home on Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, remains in captivity.
Nili Margalit, 41. A nurse from Nir Oz who works at Soroka Hospital, where some released hostages have been taken, she reportedly tended to some of the elderly hostages in Gaza.
Amit Soussna, 40. A lawyer who was captured from her home in Kfar Aza, Soussna was the other woman released early Thursday with Shem.
Israeli media reports had said that three bodies would also be returned to Israel on Thursday, but no further information has been released. The father of the only Israeli children still known to be in Gaza, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, appeared in a video released by Hamas on Thursday pleading for the bodies of his wife and children to be returned to Israel for burial. Israel has not confirmed or refuted Hamas’ claim, made Wednesday, that the young boys, ages 4 and 10 months, had died with their mother Shiri Bibas.
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The post Only remaining teen hostages and Mia Shem, seen in Hamas hostage video, among 8 Israelis freed from Gaza on Thursday appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.