Who are the six Israeli hostages set to be released on Saturday?

Israel has confirmed that the final six hostages set to be released under phase one of the ceasefire agreement, will be freed on Saturday by Hamas.

The group of six includes Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, both of whom have been held by Hamas since entering Gaza on their own in 2014 and 2015.

The group also included four men taken by Palestinian terrorists during the October 7 attacks: Tal Shoham, a father abducted while visiting his in-laws at Kibbutz Be’eri, and three young men taken from the Nova rave — Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen. The families of the hostages have confirmed their names are on the list for release.

Israeli and Hamas officials announced on Tuesday that all six remaining hostages due for release in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement will be freed on Saturday.

The move comes unexpectedly, seemingly in response to increasing concerns over the potential collapse of the ceasefire and captive release deal in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas will begin indirect negotiations on a second stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal, officials said on Tuesday.

Mengistu, 37, will have spent 3,821 days in captivity by the time he is released.

He was last seen in September 2014 after crossing into northern Gaza from the beach at Zikim.

Despite being spotted by IDF security cameras, Mengistu crossed the fence before troops could intervene and was captured by a Hamas patrol.

Ilan Mengistu (L), brother of Avera Mengistu (C), one of two Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza since 2014, attends a press conference organised by the captives' families calling for their release, in Jerusalem on September 6, 2018. Al-Sayed and Mengistu, two Israeli citizens who are mentally ill, are being held captive by Hamas after having crossed into the Gaza Strip. (Photo by THOMAS COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images

“We know that he is alive and in a bad mental and physical condition,” a relative told a Tel Aviv rally in August. “He’s been there not for a month or a year but for 10 years.”

Al-Sayed, 28, a Bedouin Israeli from the village of Hura in the Negev desert, was taken near the Erez Crossing in April 2015.

Like Mengistu, Al-Sayed suffers from mental illness and according to Human Rights Watch, in the years prior to his entering Gaza, Al-Sayed was “diagnosed with schizophrenia and a personality disorder, among other conditions” and was previously institutionalised.

In one instance, he managed to escape from a hospital and was close to entering Gaza before being stopped, as reported by the group that reviewed his medical records.

Al-Sayed was not heard from again until 2022, when Hamas released a video showing him lying in a bed in poor health and connected to an oxygen tank.

“We’ve been waiting for him for a decade,” his family stated. “It cannot be that the fate of other hostages will be a decade in captivity.”

The release also includes Tal Shoham, 39, a dual Israeli-Austrian citizen from Maale Tzviya, who was abducted on October 7 while visiting his wife’s family in Kibbutz Be’eri during Simchat Torah.

His wife Adi Shoham, children, and several relatives were also taken hostage but released in November.

Tragically, Shoham’s father-in-law, along with his wife’s aunt and uncle, were killed in the attack.

Little is known about Shoham’s condition.

His wife said last year that she had been asked by their two kids in his absence, including “When is dad coming home?” and “Mom, are we going to die?”

Eliya Cohen, 27, was kidnapped from the Nova rave along with his fiancée, Ziv Aboud.

The couple tried to flee but was pursued and shot at by Hamas gunmen.

Aboud later recalled how Cohen was pulled from a bomb shelter, placed in a pickup truck, and driven away.

Cohen’s family confirmed his captivity after a photo of him surfaced, and reports from released hostages revealed he was kept in chains, deprived of food, and denied daylight.

Earlier this month, the family revealed that they were informed by recently freed captives that Cohen had been chained for the entire duration of his captivity and received very little food or exposure to daylight.

According to these accounts, which were shared by Sigi Cohen with Hebrew-language media, a bullet wound in his leg remains improperly treated.

Omer Wenkert, 23, was also abducted from the Nova rave during the October 7 attack.

He had been in contact with his parents that morning, telling them he was “scared to death.” Their final communication with him occurred at 7.50AM.

Later, they received a Hamas video showing Omer, bound on the back of a white pickup truck and dressed only in his underwear, confirming that he had been taken hostage in Gaza.

Wenkert suffers from colitis and requires special medical care. His family reported that he has received inadequate treatment, surviving on only three dates a day, a diet that could be fatal given his condition.

Finally, Omer Shem-Tov, 22, was last in contact with his parents around 10am on October 7, just before being taken from the Nova rave.

Relatives and supporters hold placards bearing portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel, during a rally calling for their release and marking their nearly 100 days of captivity, in Tel Aviv on January 13, 2024. The placards (C) show Omer Shem Tov, 21. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images

After getting into a friend’s car, the computer programmer sent his family his live location, but they eventually noticed that it was headed toward Gaza, and contact with him was lost.

They later saw a Hamas video that had been posted on Telegram showing Shem-Tov and his friend lying on a floor in Gaza.

They were able to identify Omer from his tattoos, said his mother Shelly.

Shelly said after receiving word, according to Channel 12 news that her son will be released, “I see Omer’s name on TV and I don’t believe it. Now I can say that we can breathe, and I’m just waiting to hug my Omer.”