AFTER a whole decade of harrowing uncertainty, Avera Mengistu is house eventually.
The Ethiopian-born Israeli hostage, who spent a harrowing 3,821 days in Hamas captivity, was launched in Rafah on Saturday as a part of the delicate ceasefire deal.
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Mengistu, who was handed over alongside October 7 sufferer Tal Shoham, crossed into Israel and arrived at a navy reception level, the IDF confirmed.
They had been then reunited with their households earlier than being airlifted to medical services for additional analysis.
They’re two of the six hostages being free of Hamas’s claws as we speak.
The six are mentioned to be the final residing hostages Hamas will launch in the course of the first part of the delicate ceasefire settlement.
Learn extra on Israel-Hamas warfare
The IDF confirmed it has acquired Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert from the Purple Cross.
However Hisham al Sayed, a Bedouin Israeli who was captured earlier than October 7, might be launched individually afterward, Sky Information experiences.
He might be handed over in personal with out a ceremony from a special location in central Gaza, “out of respect for Palestinian residents of Israel”, based on Gazan experiences.
A DECADE IN CAPTIVITY
Mengistu, an Ethiopian-born Israeli, was held in Gaza for ten years and 5 months after crossing into the Strip in 2014.
His household has spend years pleading for his return, typically met with silence.
“Our household has endured ten years and 5 months of unimaginable struggling,” they mentioned in a press release.
“Throughout this time, there have been steady efforts to safe his return, with prayers and pleas, some silent, that remained unanswered till as we speak.”
Not like Shoham, who appeared visibly pale and underweight on Saturday’s hostage handover, Mengistu was seen in comparatively secure situation, retaining an analogous physique weight to when he was taken.
TOGETHER AT LAST
Upon his return, Mengistu was seen assembly members of his household at an IDF facility close to the Gaza border.
An emotional video shared by the navy confirmed Mengistu tightly embracing his family members after years aside.
The IDF later posted on X: “3,821 days. 10 years aside.
“Avera Mengistu’s household has suffered his absence for a decade, not figuring out if he was protected and even alive.
“In the present day, they will lastly maintain him once more.”
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Mengistu has since been transferred to a hospital in central Israel for additional medical evaluation and rehabilitation.
Mengistu and Shoham’s launch was a part of a broader deal, marking the primary time hostages had been freed in Rafah.
Regardless of the enjoyment of those reunions, each households emphasised that the combat is just not over.
“We should not miss this window of alternative,” the Shoham household mentioned.
“Youngsters want their fathers. We should return all hostages house: the residing for rehabilitation and the deceased for everlasting relaxation.”
PREVIOUS HOSTAGE RELEASES
Saturday’s hostage launch marks the seventh spherical beneath the continued ceasefire deal.
The earlier launch concerned the return of the our bodies of Oded Lifshitz and the Bibas kids, Kfir and Ariel.
The youngsters’s mum, Shiri Bibas, was solely repatriated to Israel afterward Friday night time.
It took Hamas terrorists two makes an attempt to accurately return the mum’s physique again to her family members after sending the incorrect stays in a vile combine up.
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