Hamas has freed the last remaining living hostages in Gaza after 738 days in hellish captivity following a historic peace deal forged by President Trump.
The first seven hostages returned to Israel around 2:30 a.m. ET Monday after being transported out of the Palestinian territory by Red Cross trucks.
The remaining 13 hostages were released by Hamas hours later.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the first seven were being taken to a military base for medical checks, and then will be reunited with their families.
The first freed hostages are Gali and Ziv Berman, Matan Angrest, Alon Ohel, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, and Guy Gilboa-Dallal, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The bodies of 28 others are still in the Palestinian enclave and are expected to be released over the next several days.
The survivors’ two-year nightmare is finally ending following Israel’s devastating war, which was meant to crush Hamas and free the captives.
More than 250 hostages were originally taken during the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks on southern Israel.
The captives endured horrific conditions, according to survivors who were released as part of previous deals or rescued by the Israel Defense Forces. They reported being tortured, raped and starved.
One hostage, Evyatar David, was forced to dig his own grave as part of a sick Hamas propaganda video released in August, which showed him extremely gaunt.
In September 2024, Hamas executed six hostages with point-blank shots after Israeli troops got too close to their hiding place.
The war also devastated Gaza, with huge swaths of the enclave destroyed by Israeli strikes. More than 67,000 Palestinians were killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
That figure does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
The release of the hostages marks a major turning point in the Gaza war — and a step toward ending it once-and-for-all, per Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
After Israel agreed to the cease-fire deal, it withdrew its troops from much of Gaza and stopped attacking Hamas.
What comes next is a complex deal, in which Trump and Israel’s Middle Eastern neighbors will work to force Hamas to disarm and give up power.
Along with the living captives, Hamas was ordered to hand over the bodies of all the dead hostages whose whereabouts it knows, with an international effort set to begin to locate the remains of those missing.
It remains unclear how many bodies Hamas and its extremist allies have lost in the war, which saw large swaths of Gaza reduced to rubble and the terror network’s tunnel system repeatedly blown up.
The surviving hostages — confirmed by both Israel and Hamas — expected to be released are:
- Matan Angrest, 22
- Ziv Berman, 28
- Gali Berman, 28
- Elkana Bohboot, 36
- Rom Braslavski, 21
- Nimrod Cohen, 20
- Ariel Cunio, 28
- David Cunio, 35
- Evyatar David, 24
- Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24
- Maxim Herkin, 37
- Eitan Horn, 38
- Segev Kalfon, 27
- Bar Kupershtein, 23
- Omri Miran, 48
- Eitan Abraham Mor, 25
- Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25
- Alon Ohel, 24
- Avinatan Or, 32
- Matan Zangauker, 25.
The 26 who are presumed dead include:
- Inbar Hayman, 27
- Tamir Adar, 38
- Mohammad Alatrash, 39
- Sahar Baruch, 24
- Uriel Baruch, 35
- Amiram Cooper, 85
- Itay Chen, 19, an Israeli-American
- Oz Daniel, 19
- Ronen Engel, 54
- Ran Gvili, 24
- Manny Godard, 73
- Tal Haimi, 41
- Asaf Hamami, 40
- Guy Illouz, 26
- Eitan Levi, 53
- Eliyahu Margalit, 75
- Joshua Mollel, 21
- Omer Neutra, 21, of New York
- Sonthaya Oakkharasri
- Dror Or, 48
- Daniel Perez, 22
- Sudthisak Rinthalak
- Lior Rudaeff, 61
- Yossi Sharabi, 53
- Arye Zalmanovich, 85
- Hadar Goldin, 25
The conditions of two others, Bipin Joshi, 24, and Tamir Nimrodi, 20, were unknown to the public before the hostage exchange.
Like with the previous hostage exchanges, the Red Cross was scheduled to drop the hostages off with the Israeli military, which will proceed to transport the captives to medical facilities to be treated.
Once all the hostages have crossed the border, the IDF will begin the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including about 250 who are serving life sentences.
The hostage exchange marks a major point in Trump’s cease-fire deal, with its completion allowing humanitarian aid to flood into the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The exchange also comes just a day before Trump was set to arrive in Israel to mark the end of the Gaza war and to welcome the captives back — including the slain Chen and Neutra, both of whom are Americans.
