The first three hostages to be released under Israel and Hamas’s hostage and ceasefire deal have safely arrived home after 471 days in captivity.
The three Israeli women, Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, were transferred from Hamas to the Red Cross amid a crowd swarming the transport vehicles in Gaza.
All three women are alive and were seen in footage standing on their own.
They will undergo medical evaluation in Israel and first be reunited with their mothers at the reception complex near Kibbutz Re’im and then their entire families at the hospital.
The ceasefire took effect at 11:15 after a delay of Hamas failing to hand over the list of hostages on time.
Steinbrecher, 31 and Damari, 28 were taken hostage from their homes in Kfar Aza on the morning of October 7. Gonen, 24, was taken hostage at the Nova music festival after being shot.
Sterinbrecher, a veterinary nurse who also holds Roamanian citizenship, was hiding under her bed when terrorists entered her apartment. Her last voice note to her loved ones was “they’ve got me, they’ve got me,” her mother recounted in a piece for the Financial Times.
Damari, who also holds British citizenship, was shot in her hand, injured by shrapnel, blindfolded, and taken into Gaza during Hamas’s attack, according to her mother. Her dog, Choocha, was reportedly shot by terrorists in the back of the neck.
