Day 505 - 6 gaunt hostages released by Hamas, 2 after a decade
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.
Kibbutz Nir Oz said early Saturday morning that resident Shiri Bibas was murdered while held captive in Gaza, after Hamas handed over her body overnight and it was brought to Israel for identification. Fabian updates us on what we know of her and her children's fate.
Hostages Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed were released from captivity and returned to Israel today, as part of the ongoing ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
The terror group paraded five of the six freed hostages on stages in propaganda-filled handover ceremonies in two locations in Gaza, handing them over to the Red Cross, while al-Sayed was released separately to the Red Cross later in the day, without a ceremony. We hear a little about each man's current status and how he arrived in Gaza.
Israel Police and the Shin Bet security agency reportedly detained two Jewish Israelis and a Palestinian in connection with explosions on three buses in central Israel Thursday night, as the IDF bolstered operations in the West Bank following what is thought to have been a narrowly averted large-scale terror attack. There is a gag order on this case, so Fabian updates us on what we are allowed to report.
Please see today's ongoing live blog for more updates.
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Adina Karpuj.
For further reading:
IDF: Captors murdered children Ariel and Kfir Bibas ‘in cold blood’ with ‘their bare hands’
These are the six living hostages set to be released Saturday
These are the 4 hostages set to be released on Thursday; all are believed to be dead
2 Jewish Israelis, Palestinian said arrested in connection with botched bus bombings
IMAGE: Israelis in Hostages Square, Tel Aviv, watch a big screen showing the releases of hostages Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham from Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 22, 2025. (Roya Lavi / Hostages Families Forum)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. Today is Saturday, February 22nd, day 505 of the war. |
| 0:14.6 | Amanda Burschelle, Dan here with our military reporter, Emmanuel Fabian. Hi, Manny. Thanks for joining |
| 0:19.1 | me on this special hostage release update. Hi, Manny. Thanks for joining me on this special hostage release update. |
| 0:21.9 | Hi, Mandah, Shabbat Shalom. Six Israeli men were returned home today from Gaza. |
| 0:27.2 | In the first release from southern Gaza's Rafakh was Avera Mengistu, who spent 3,821 days in Hamas captivity, |
| 0:37.0 | and Tal Shoham, who was captured on October 7, 2023. |
| 0:41.8 | Later in the day from Nusirat, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wankat, and Eliakohen were released, each spending |
| 0:47.7 | 505 days in indescribable conditions. |
| 0:52.7 | And finally, later in the afternoon, Israeli Bedouin, Hisham al-Sayyad, |
| 0:56.3 | who has been in Hamas captivity since April 2015, was set to be released in Gaza City. We'll discuss |
| 1:03.4 | all of this and more after the break. We understand the public sentiment. We don't refute it. We live within those communities where we operate. |
| 1:19.1 | But at the same time, we always have to balance what's at stake. And that's our ability to provide assistance to people. |
| 1:25.9 | On the most recent episode of identity crisis, |
| 1:28.4 | Yehuda Kurtzer speaks with Noah Schroier, |
| 1:30.3 | legal advisor for the International Committee of the Red Cross, |
| 1:33.3 | about the pragmatic applications of neutrality |
| 1:35.3 | and the challenges that the ICRC faces during times of conflict. |
| 1:39.2 | Neutrality is by no means an objective. |
| 1:42.9 | We use neutrality as an instrument that enables us to be in those places where no one else can. |
| 1:50.4 | It allows us to be the go-between, with the trust of not only the parties to the conflict, |
| 1:56.1 | but also of the populations within which we operate. |
| 1:59.7 | Join us as we take on the issues facing contemporary Jewish life on identity crisis, |
... |
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