The three Israeli hostages due to be released in Gaza on Thursday have been named by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which also confirmed that five Thai nationals will be freed.
“The list of names received from Hamas today by the mediators Qatar and Egypt includes: Arbel Yehoud (29 years old), Agam Berger (19) and Gadi Moses (80),” the PMO said.
The names of the five Thai citizens to be freed have not been made public.
Israeli authorities are also expected to release 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday. Of those, 32 were sentenced to life imprisonment, and another 30 are children, according to Hamas.
A total of 33 Israeli hostages taken captive by Hamas and other armed groups in the October 7 attacks were set to be freed in phase one of the ceasefire and hostages release deal between Israel and Hamas. Two rounds of releases have already taken place. Meanwhile, Israel will release a total of almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase.
Eight of the remaining Israeli hostages set to be released are dead, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Monday.
All three Israeli hostages named for release on Thursday are believed to be alive, according to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.
Yehoud was kidnapped from her home in the Nir Oz kibbutz, along with her partner Ariel Cunio, the forum said on Wednesday.
Moses, a grandfather and keen agronomist, also was taken from Nir Oz.
The kibbutz was among the hardest-hit of the communities targeted by Hamas in the attacks of October 7, 2023, with more than a quarter of its population of 400 being either killed or kidnapped.
Osnat Peri, the chairwoman of Kibbutz Nir Oz, described the news of the releases as “an exciting moment for us, and another step on the long road to bringing all our loved ones home.”
However, she also noted that of the 76 people kidnapped from the community, 29 remained in Gaza, and said that the “struggle will continue” until all were returned.
“Many others were murdered, homes were burned, and the entire community was uprooted,” she said, adding, “The road to recovery and the return of everyone home is still long, but we are not giving up.”
Moses’ family said Wednesday they had “received with great excitement the wonderful news of our beloved Gadi’s return to us tomorrow,” thanking “the people of Israel for their embrace and support.”
The third Israeli hostage to be returned Thursday, Berger, was a soldier abducted from a military base beside the Nahal Oz kibbutz.
The hostages forum said it too would “not give up or stop at any stage until all hostages return home – down to the very last one – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial.”
Hostage thanks Israeli soldier for ‘saving her life’
The news of Thursday’s releases comes as a former hostage thanked a female soldier freed last week for saving her life.
Amit Soussana, who was released during an earlier, short-lived ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in November 2023, spoke in an emotional interview with Israeli TV about her experiences in captivity – and the bravery of her fellow captive Liri Albag, who was freed on Saturday.
Soussana credited Albag, 19, with talking one of her captors out of killing her.
The 40-year-old lawyer spent the first three weeks of her captivity in solitary confinement, with only her captor – who allegedly sexually assaulted her – for company. But after Israel launched its ground offensive in late October, she was moved to another location within the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, she told journalist Ben Shani, in an episode of “Uvda” on Israel’s Channel Keshet 12, that there were four other hostages at the second site – including Albag.
The group immediately bonded with Soussana and told her about their captors, singling out one who she labelled a “psychopath.” On one occasion, she said, he hit her in the neck with his gun, and threatened to “kill” her.
He and others then bound her arms and legs to two sticks and strung her up between two sofas, said Soussana. “I was tied to one stick by my hands and one by my feet and hung upside down and with duct tape on my face,” she added, while one of the men beat her.
She said she quickly learnt that they thought she was an IDF officer and were trying to obtain information from her.
Soussana alleged the other hostages were brought in to convince her to confess. Then, back in the room, she was threatened at gunpoint.
After her captor left, Albag told her she didn’t think that they would follow through, but asked nonetheless if Soussana had a message for her family. She said she loved them.
Soussana said the “psychopath” liked Albag, so she asked her to explain that she was a civilian. Describing her as “a force,” Soussana said that she was “something special” who “had power against him.”
But after two weeks together, the women were separated and Soussanna was transferred again – this time to Hamas’ network of underground tunnels.
Her stay there was short lived compared with some of the remaining hostages, who have been held for more than 15 months.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Kareem Khadder and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed reporting.
