Tel Aviv [Israel]: The Israeli Prime Minister's Office shared a list of all 13 hostages, who returned home to their loved ones after being taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 terror attacks.
The Israeli PM Office informed that among those rescued as part of a swap deal with Hamas were 11 foreign nationals. In exchange for 24 Hamas hostages, who were rescued as part of the deal brokered by the US and Qatar, Israel also freed 39 Palestinian prisoners.
"The Israeli government embraces our citizens returning home. The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abductees and missing persons," the PM Office said in a statement.
"Our citizens underwent an initial medical examination and their families were informed by the appointed officials that they were back," it added.
The Israeli PM Office also put out details of the 13 nationals who returned to their homeland.
Three members of the Asher family who returned home were identified as Doron Katz-Asher (34), Raz Asher (4), and Aviv Asher (2)
Two members released from the Aloni family were identified as Daniel Aloni (45) and Amelia Aloni (5)
Three rescued members of the Monder family were identified as Ruth Munder (78), Keren Monder (54), and Ohad Monder (9).
Apart from them, five more Israeli nationals -- Adina Moshe (72), Hana Katzir (76), Margalit Mozes (77), Hanna Perry (79) and Yaffe Adar (85) -- were also released from captivity.
The PM Office said the government along with all the security forces accompanied the released hostages as they returned to their kin, who had been spending anxious days over their fates.
Earlier, on Friday, the first group of Israeli hostages were handed over to the staff of the International Committee for Red Cross as part of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, Times of Israel reported
The truce brokered by Qatar between Israel and Hamas went into effect at 7 am (local time) on Friday.
After the release of hostages on Friday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that the nation is committed to returning of all the hostages from Gaza as it is "one of the aims of the war".
In a video message posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Netanyahu said, "We just completed the return of the first of our hostages: children, their mothers and additional women. Each of them is an entire world."
US President Joe Biden hailed the development calling it just the "start of a process". He further affirmed hope that "dozens of hostages" will be returned to their families over the next few days.
Hamas might eventually free more hostages, in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire by an extra day for each 10 Israeli hostages, according to The Times of Israel report.
However, the released hostages are only a small group out of some 240 people held hostage by Hamas terrorists since October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel.
—ANI