The first release of hostages by Hamas to Egyptian authorities and the Red Cross, who are acting as intermediaries at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, has occurred.

Thirteen hostages, plus an additional ten Thai nationals and one Filipino national, were handed over by Hamas after a delay that saw this release pushed back from Thursday to today. The Thai workers, who were in southern Israel and attacked, murdered, and kidnapped on October 7th, are apparently a part of a separate deal between the Thai government and Hamas. Initial reports from Thailand had indicated that twelve Thai nationals would be released, but apparently that was not the case. On October 7th, Hamas simply massacred anyone they found. After the adrenaline and the drug highs cleared, Hamas leaders realized that Thais are not Israelis. Whoops. There are more Thai nationals being held as hostages, but since we have no full accounting of who is actually being held in captivity, we have no way of knowing how many are left – or how many Hamas has lost track of. But for the thirteen Israelis that have been released, there is at least an end to their nightmares.

The thirteen Israeli hostages being released were apparently almost all from one kibbutz, Nir Oz. In a surprise twist, Hanna Katzir, who Palestinian Islamic Jihad had claimed had died (and blamed Israel for it) is actually alive and being released.

Hanna Katzir – an elderly Israeli women who the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed died in captivity – is among the Israelis released today.

Palestinian terrorists are engaging in heartbreaking psychological warfare. pic.twitter.com/M6uhM0YZfH

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 24, 2023

The rest of the released hostages are also older women, with a few children scattered in.

The 13 freed Israelis are:
Aviv Katz, 2
Raz Katz, 4
Emilia Aloni, 5
Ohad Mundar, 9
Doron Katz, 34
Danielle Aloni, 44
Keren Mundar, 54
Adina Moshe, 72
Hanna Katzir, 77
Ruth Mundar, 78
Margalit Mozes, 78
Channa Peri, 79
Yaffa Adar, 85 pic.twitter.com/NZ88FjJmy9

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 24, 2023

According to reports, there are mothers and children within the group, along with one grandmother-mother-son family. The oldest released hostage is 85 years old, and the youngest released is two years old. No one wants to imagine what they have lived through.

Danielle Alony, 44, and her 5-year-old daughter, Amelia, were among the hostages released on Friday, according to their cousin, Liam Zeitchik.

“Daniele and Amelia were released. No words, just thankful,” the Brooklyn resident wrote on Instagram.

Two elderly women, Adina Moshe and Margalit Mozesrly, were also freed, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Family Headquarters for the Hostages and Missing also confirmed the release of 72-year-old Moshe, who was abducted after her husband Said Moshe was killed by Hamas at her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“Now [that] she is back in the arms of her children and grandchildren, she will be able to continue raising some of her grandchildren who live in the kibbutz,” the statement said.

The final Israeli hostages released as part of the first group were identified as Hannah Katzir, Yafa Ader, Hannah Perry, Ruthi Mondar, Keren Mondar and Ohad Mondar.

While there is obviously great relief for those who have been released, there is a deep ugly psychological play happening by Hamas. Only a handful of children were released, while many elderly women were returned instead. This has to be intentional, because keeping the children as hostages is meant to string the ceasefire, and the hopes of Israel, along for as long as possible. We have already seen the way that the terrorists have been willing to lie about who is alive and who is dead. Now, Hamas is already breaking their end of the deal, as they are point-blank refusing to let the International Red Cross have access to the hostages to confirm their identities and physical condition – something they had agreed to do in the ceasefire bargain.

According to the London-based and Qatar-affiliated Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Hamas will not allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit the Israeli hostages. This constitutes a violation of the Hamas hostage deal with Israel. According to the report, Hamas will notify the Red Cross of the hostages’ situation and health condition, but won’t allow direct interaction.

The section about the Red Cross visits of the hostages who will not be released in the initial phase was included in the agreement and approved by all the parties. The guarantor countries of the agreement – Qatar, the US, and Egypt – are obliged to verify its full implementation.

As of Friday morning, the ICRC has not confirmed that it would be allowed to visit the hostages, but noted: “As soon as such visits are agreed upon, we will be prepared to hold them.”

The Wall Street Journal and Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Thursday that the main reason for the sudden delay in carrying out the exchanges had to do with Hamas’s reneging on the ICRC visits.

There are several speculations about the reason for Hamas’s refusal to let the ICRC visit the hostages. An Egyptian source told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Hamas policy is that Israel must pay separately for every gesture, which includes the visits. Another reason could be that the remaining hostages, especially the soldiers, are dead, and Hamas wants to keep their deaths a secret to be able to use their release in future negotiations.

A third reason may be Hamas’s paranoia that any Western delegation could include an Israeli spy who would later reveal the location of the hostages.

The Red Cross has been looking the other way in Gaza for years, especially considering the known use of al-Shifa Hospital as Hamas headquarters, and the presence of hostages in the hospital.

Over the weekend the IDF released footage from al-Shifa hospital showing Hamas fighters bringing hostages to the medical compound on Oct. 7, the day of its bloody incursion into Israel. One hostage, an Israeli soldier, was likely killed there. Fighters dragging the hostages can be seen interacting freely with medical personnel at the hospital, in case anyone still tries to argue that hospital officials have plausible deniability. And as some have pointed out, there was no way for the hostages to get to Shifa without being taken past several other hospitals on the way, so they were not brought in for medical care.

Ridiculous excuses thus dispensed with, we can move on to what ICRC officials knew and when they knew it. The Red Cross was no stranger to Shifa. On November 6 and 7, for example, it boasted of ICRC caravans transporting supplies to Shifa and patients from Shifa. What did ICRC personnel see as they cleared out patients for transfer? More important, what did they pretend not to see? They had communication with and access to the hospital compound and its staff; to what purpose did they use this access? They were aware of the material needs of the hospital and therefore what was being used daily. ICRC doctors and surgeons around Gaza were in contact with colleagues at Shifa.

Now, the International Red Cross is apparently showing off their true colors. They want to position themselves as the world’s conscience, but at best, they are at the mercy of bad actors and too cowardly to acknowledge that fact. At worst, they are complicit in terrorism in order to burnish their own reputation.

"Unfortunately we cannot do more than we are doing."
–Red Cross rep totally humiliating herself and her organization, if that's even possible at this point, under questioning from i24 anchor. She's disintegrating on live tv. Unrelenting questioning just obliterating her lies.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) November 24, 2023

With Hamas already reneging on the terms they signed off on, it is unknown how long this ceasefire deal for hostages will hold. Israel is going to be releasing the Palestinian prisoners, but all of those will be released into the West Bank, per the BBC.

Red Cross buses are reported to have arrived at Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank ready to release the 24 women and 15 teenage boys aged under 18.

They will be transferred to an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank and then allowed to return home, according to Israel’s prison service.

The detainees were chosen from a list of 300 women and minors compiled by Israel.

Less than a quarter of those on the list have been convicted – the vast majority are being held on remand while awaiting trial. Most of those listed are teenage boys – 40% of them under the age of 18. There is also one teenage girl and 32 women.

In order to get back elderly women who were kidnapped and brutalized, Israel is going to be releasing the whirlwind into a completely different area. Funny how the Palestinian Authority gets to benefit from the hostage taking by Hamas, isn’t it? (That was sarcasm, in case you missed it.) The crap sandwich is not going to have many silver linings.

We can be thankful that 23 innocent people have been released from hell, despite the cost that is sure to come. Now we continue to wait and see if Hamas continues to ignore the bargain, and if any more hostages are released tomorrow.

Featured image: flag of Israel by edu_castro27 via Pixabay, cropped and modified, Pixabay license