Who are the 12 hostages released by Hamas this Tuesday?

On the fifth day of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the group, considered terrorists by the European Union or the United States, handed over 12 hostages to the Red Cross.

Exchanges continue. On Tuesday, November 28, the Palestinian Authority released a new batch of hostages held in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack. In return, Israel released 30 Palestinians in prison under a 48-hour extension of Monday’s ceasefire.

In the evening, several women were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Rafah, south of the Palestinian Territory, near the Egyptian border, along with masked Palestinian fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The twelve freed hostages, “ten Israelis and two foreigners”, were “taken to Israeli hospitals where they will be reunited with their families”, the Israeli military said, confirming that they had arrived in Israel via Egypt.

A minor and dual citizens

Among the freed Israeli hostages was a 17-year-old minor, Mia Leimberg, along with her 59-year-old mother, Gabriela Leimberg. The other eight were women aged 36 to 84, whose names were released by the Israeli government.

At the time of the release, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry indicated that one hostage at the center of the negotiations had Austrian citizenship, two were Argentine and another was Filipino.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the two freed foreigners were from Thailand. No further information was released by Israeli officials.

Every day since November 24, Hamas has freed about ten women and children abducted during the bloody October 7 attack in Israel, three times as many Palestinian prisoners.

A ceasefire agreement negotiated with the support of Egypt and the United States has so far led to the release of 60 Israeli hostages and 180 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

21 foreign hostages, mostly Thais living in Israel, were released outside the framework of this agreement.