Hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy free after 491 days

Three more Israeli hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross by armed Hamas guards, after being made to take part in a ceremony in front of a crowd. The men, emaciated and frail after 491 days in captivity, were later received by the IDF to be reunited with their families and taken back to Israel.

Red Cross officials signed documents on stage before Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy were handed over. The men looked thin and pale, and were wearing brown clothes and were made to speak into microphones, flanked by armed guards.  The brown outfits are believed to represent the clothes worn by Palestinian prisoners.

In contrast to the mob scenes when hostages Arbel Yehud and Gadi Mozes were freed,  the crowd were kept a few metres away from the Red Cross vehicles as they arrived at Deir al-Balah, Gaza, the first time a hostage release has taken place in central Gaza.

Ohad Ben Ami on the Hamas stage (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]Eli Shabari is handed over to the Red Cross[Missing Credit]

Israeli president Isaac Herzog said: “This is what a crime against humanity looks like. The entire world should look at Ohad, Or and Eli – who returned from the hell of 491 days in captivity, painful, emaciated and wounded, and were used in a cynical and evil ritual by damned murderers.”

Eli Sharabi, 52 and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 were taken from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 2023; Or Levy, 34 was abducted from the Nova music festival. They have been in captivity for 491 days.

Close relatives of Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi react as they watch on a television screen the preparations for his release along with two other hostages in the Gaza Strip, at the family home in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2025. Hamas is set to release three Israeli hostages on February 8 in exchange for 183 prisoners held by Israel in the fifth exchange of a fragile Gaza ceasefire. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images

Sharabi’s British born wife Lianne and their two daughters were killed on October 7;  his brother who was also kidnapped, died in captivity.  Levy’s wife Einav was also killed at Nova. Their son Almog, 3 is being. cared for by his grandparents, and has been told that his father was being released today. Pictures drawn by him were waiting for his father. Levy’s mother has told reporters that they do not know if her son is aware his wife was murdered on October 7. 
“From what we have heard the terrorists very much enjoyed telling the hostages that their loved ones had been killed and causing them pain and suffering,” she told Israel’s Army Radio.
Later 183 Palestinian prisoners were released as part of the ceasefire deal, to scenes of jubilation in Ramallah. Eighteen have been serving life sentences and 54 were serving long sentences, with 111 detained in Gaza during the war.