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16 more hostages are freed as Netanyahu vows to resume war at truce’s end
(JTA) — Twelve more Israelis have been freed from Gaza, including several who had been separated from family members released in recent days, as the current truce deal appears to be reaching its conclusion.
The latest release includes two Russian-Israeli women whom Hamas released as a “gesture” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addition to the 10 Israelis the terror group was required to release under the terms of its truce deal with Israel. Hamas also released four Thai workers whose names were not immediately released.
The hostages freed on Wednesday do not include members of the Bibas family, parents Shiri and Yarden and brothers Kfir, 10 months, and Ariel, 4, who have become symbols of the crisis in a country riveted by the daily ritual of learning who is coming home and who remains captive or missing. Hamas said on Wednesday that Shiri and her sons had been killed in an airstrike. Israel said it was investigating the “cruel and inhumane” claim, which comes days after Hamas said it had handed the family to a different terror group and more than five days since the last Israeli airstrike. Hamas previously returned a hostage whom it had previously said was dead.
Hamas has offered to release more hostages over the next four days in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire. It is not clear whether Israel will accept the offer. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to continue the war, and Israeli military leaders have reportedly signed off on plans for the conflict’s next phase.
Meanwhile, a far-right minister has threatened that his party will leave Netanyahu’s government if the war does not resume: National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s departure could but would not necessarily bring down the government.
Most of the latest freed hostages come from Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities during the Oct. 7 attack where more than 100 people were killed. The Israeli hostages freed Wednesday are:
Raya Rotem, 54. Her 13-year-old daughter Hila was released Saturday, two days after the pair was reportedly separated for the first time since they were taken captive. While in Gaza, Rotem was the caretaker of Emily Hand, 9, who was sleeping at her house on the night of the attack; Hand was released along with Hila.
Raz Ben Ami, 55. Her husband Ohad was also abducted.
Yarden Roman-Gat, 36. After initially escaping from Hamas terrorists with her husband and toddler, Roman-Gat reportedly handed her child to her husband because he could run faster. Her husband and child survived the attack and were not recaptured.
Liat Beinin, 49. Beinin is a U.S. citizen who works at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum. Her husband Aviv Atzili remains in Gaza.
Moran Stella Yanai, 40. Yanai is a jewelry designer from Beersheba who was selling her work at the Nova music festival where an estimated 360 people were killed. She was seen on video being pulled by a Hamas terrorist from a ditch where she had hidden.
Liam Or, 18. His cousins Noam, 17, and Alma, 13, were released on Friday, and their father Dror remains a hostage; their mother Yonat was killed on Oct. 7.
Itai Regev, 18. Regev’s sister Maia, 21, was released on Saturday and rushed into surgery because of a wound to her leg. The siblings were captured at the Nova festival; their friend Omer Shem-Tov remains in Gaza.
Ofir Engel, 18. A resident of Jerusalem and a Dutch dual citizen, Engel was visiting his girlfriend on Kibbutz Be’eri the day of the attack; she survived, but her father, Yossi Sharabi, was taken captive and remains in Gaza.
Amit Shani, 16. Shani was taken with Engel and Sharabi, the only member of his family to be abducted.
Gali Tarshansky, 13. Tarshansky was captured after jumping from the window of her home’s safe room along with her father, who survived. Her brother Lior, 15, was killed.
Yelena Trupanov, 50, and Irene Tati, 77. The Russian-Israeli mother and daughter were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, along with Trupanov’s son Sasha and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen; her husband Vitaly was murdered. Sasha Trupanov and Cohen remain hostages.
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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.