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Arbel Yehud, Agam Berger, Gadi Mozes Home After 482 Days in Gaza Captivity

Released Israeli hostage, Agam Berger, a soldier who was seized from her army base in southern Israel during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, is reunited with her parents following her release, in a handout photo obtained by Reuters on Jan. 30, 2025. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
JNS.org — Three Israelis and five Thais were redeemed from terrorist captivity in the Gaza Strip on Thursday as part of Hamas’s truce with Jerusalem, 482 days after they were taken captive during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Israeli civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, and Gadi Mozes, 80, were handed over by Hamas to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday afternoon in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
Mozes was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his wife, Margalit, who was one of the first captives released in the 2023 truce.
The five released Thais — all foreign workers who taken hostage during the Oct. 7 cross-border assault — were named by the Israel Defense Forces as Thaenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakhan, Sriaoun Watchara, Saethao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak.
“According to information provided by the Red Cross, seven hostages, including an Israeli male and female hostage and five foreign nationals, were handed over to it and are making their way to the IDF and [Israel Security Agency] forces in the Gaza Strip,” the military confirmed.
The army subsequently confirmed that the seven returnees have “now crossed the border into Israeli territory with IDF and ISA forces.”
Released hostages Liri, Naama, Karina and Daniella watching their friend Agam make her way home.
This is sisterhoodpic.twitter.com/K7N7KLHLeR
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 30, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Jerusalem appealed to mediators Qatar and Egypt following the “horrific scenes” of Yehud and Mozes being publicly taunted by their captors and a mob of thousands of Palestinians as they were transferred to the Red Cross.
“This is further proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization,” Jerusalem’s Prime Minister’s Office stated, demanding that Doha and Cairo work to “guarantee the safety of our hostages.”
Yehud and Mozes had been held by Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attack alongside Hamas.
Islamic Jihad issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that it had “completed the procedures for handing over the hostages Arbel Yehud and Gadi Mozes,” in what Hebrew media interpreted as the terror group having transferred the two to Hamas ahead of their release.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20, who was kidnapped from the IDF field observers’ base in Nahal Oz, was transferred into Red Cross custody following a Hamas handover ceremony in Gaza’s north.
“Agam Berger, accompanied by IDF and [Israel Security Agency] forces, recently crossed the border into the territory of the State of Israel,” the military stated. Berger was reunited with her family at the reception point near the border before being evacuated to a hospital, it said.
“Thank God we have reached this moment and our heroine Agam has returned to us after 482 days in the hands of the enemy,” the family said in a statement after the reunion. “Our girl is strong, believing and brave.”
“We would like to thank the security forces and the entire people of Israel for all the support and prayers,” added the family’s statement.
Netanyahu’s office stated, “The government, together with all security officials, will accompany her and her family. The Israeli government is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing.”
The PMO statement concluded with a quote from the Bible: “And I will return the captivity of My people Israel” (Amos 9:14).
Dr. Lena Koren Feldman, director of Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital, told Israel’s Channel 12 News that the four IDF soldiers kidnapped alongside Berger and who were released by Hamas on Saturday screamed with excitement when they saw her being freed.
As Berger was being released, US President Donald Trump”s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met in Jerusalem with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri to discuss the implementation of the hostage deal.
Witkoff, who arrived in the Jewish state on Wednesday, met on Thursday afternoon with the four previously freed soldiers at Beilinson Hospital. The presidential envoy also visited “Hostage Square” in central Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem is preparing to free several high-profile Palestinian terrorists in exchange for the hostages, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday. Among the 110 terrorists scheduled to be released are Zakaria Zubeidi, Mohammad Abu Warda and Sami Jaradat, according to Channel 12.
Zubeidi led Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Samaria city of Jenin and briefly escaped from Israel’s high-security Gilboa Prison in 2021.
Since Zubeidi was not convicted of murder but of other terror offenses, he will not be deported and is expected to be released back to Samaria.
Abu Warda and Jaradat were responsible for terrorist attacks that combined killed 66 Israelis in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Both are scheduled to be deported and banned from returning to Israeli territory.
However, an Israeli security source told the country’s Kan News that Jerusalem’s political echelon had decided to freeze the release of the Arab terrorists in response to the way Yehud and Mozes were treated on Thursday.
The IDF said on Thursday morning that its Judea and Samaria Division had completed “preparations for the next wave of released terrorists, by reinforcing defense at checkpoints and in various sectors.”
The IDF voted to take immediate action against expected “disturbances and terror activities” surrounding the release of terrorists into the area.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) also made “warning calls” to families of terrorists who are expected to be released, it noted.
The post Arbel Yehud, Agam Berger, Gadi Mozes Home After 482 Days in Gaza Captivity first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.