Jean-Philippe Chognot

PARIS, Nov 28, 2023 (AFP) – Ten Israeli women including a 17-year-old were released Tuesday by Gaza militants, Israeli officials said, on the fifth day of a truce in fighting with Hamas.

The release of the Israeli group as well as two Thai nationals brings the total number of freed hostages to 86 from around 240 people taken to the Gaza Strip after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

Tuesday’s release in Gaza was followed by the freeing of 30 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, under the terms of an extended truce between Israel and Hamas.

Adding to the 60 Israeli hostages who have been released since fighting paused on Friday, 19 Thais, a Filipino and a Russian-Israeli have also been freed though not part of the agreement.

Five hostages were also released in October before the truce, one of them rescued in an Israeli military operation.

According to information from relatives, Israeli media and the Hostage Families Forum, the 10 Israeli hostages released on Tuesday are:

– Mia Leimberg, mother Gabriela and aunt Clara Marman –

Mia Leimberg, 17, is the youngest hostage released on Tuesday. She was taken back to Israel along with her 59-year-old mother Gabriela Leimberg and aunt Clara Marman, 63, who were all abducted from Nir Yitzhak kibbutz.

The teenager was seen in footage following her release holding her dog Bella in her arms.

Originally from Jerusalem, the Leimbergs were visiting Marman, Gabriela’s sister, when Nir Yitzhak was attacked on October 7.

Marman’s partner Luis Har and brother Fernando Marman were also taken hostage and remain in Gaza.

The family had taken refuge in the safe room of the house and tried to block the door with a chair, but to no avail.

The family are Argentinian nationals, according to media reports.

At the entrance to the arts school Mia attends in Jerusalem, a banner put up after her abduction read: “Mia, we’re waiting for your return!”

– Ditza Heiman –

The video of 84-year-old Ditza Heiman’s abduction in a car, alongside the testimony of a neighbour, was the only proof of life her family had until now.

Living alone in Nir Oz kibbutz, the widow and former social worker had taken refuge in her safe room. Her phone rang for hours on the day of the attack, until someone speaking in Arabic answered at around 4 pm.

Ditza is great-grandmother to five, who love her secret-recipe soup.

– Tamar Metzger –

Tamar Metzger, 78, and her husband Yoram, 80, were abducted from their home in Nir Oz.

“So far, so good,” Yoram had texted one of his granddaughters at 8:50 am on October 7.

Yocheved Lifshitz, a hostage released on October 23, had provided the family with proof of life, saying she saw the couple in Gaza.

An avid reader, Tamar, whose family originates from Yemen, is the mother of three children.

She was released without her husband.

– Ofelia Roitman –

On October 7, 77-year-old Ofelia Roitman’s family lost contact with her shortly before 10 am, while she was in her safe room.

That evening, when soldiers inspected her house, they found no sign of a struggle, suggesting that she had been abducted.

Roitman, an Argentinian national, immigrated to Israel in 1985 and has lived ever since in Nir Oz, where she taught at an elementary school for 20 years.

Her husband, hospitalised after a fall, was absent at the time of the attack.

– Ada Sagi –

Ada Sagi, who has lived alone in Nir Oz since her husband died of cancer, was abducted from her safe room.

Her son Noam Sagi, who lives in London, had no news of his mother until he saw a video online of a stranger in his mother’s garden.

Ada, who suffers from asthma, had been due to visit him to celebrate her 75th birthday.

The daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, Ada learned Arabic and then taught it to improve communication with her Palestinian neighbours.

– Noralin Agojo –

Philippines-born Noralin Agojo, 60, was abducted from Nirim, where she was visiting friends on October 7 along with her partner Gideon Babani who was killed in the attack.

Before her capture, Agojo called her brother Exo and told him he might not see her again.

Agojo lives in Yehud, near Tel Aviv, and enjoys tending to her cactus plants and flowers.

The dual national is the second citizen of the Philippines to be released from captivity in Gaza after 33-year-old Gelienor Pacheco was freed on Friday.

– Meirav Tal –

Meirav Tal, 53, was freed after the release of her partner’s two children, Yagil and Or Yaakov, on Monday.

Tal and the children’s father, Yair Yaakov who remains in Gaza, were abducted when militants stormed their home in Nir Oz as they were hiding in a safe room.

The children, who were staying with their mother, were taken into Gaza separately.

At 9:20 am on the day of the attack, Tal sent a voice message to her partner’s brother, telling him gunmen had entered the house.

The following day, relatives saw video footage showing militants had used grenades to force their way into the building.

– Rimon Kirsht –

Abducted from home in Nirim, 36-year-old Rimon Kirsht was taken along with her partner Yagev Buchstab, 34, who has not been released.

The terrified woman sent her mother a voice message at around 8:30 am on October 7, a relative told the media. The message ended with the sounds of militants shouting and firing shots.

Hours later, when Israeli security forces asked residents of the community to gather, Kirsht and Buchstab were missing and their house was empty.

Kirsht, an animal lover and an alternative medicine professional, appeared in a video released by Hamas on October 30, showing her alongside Danielle Aloni — who was freed on Friday — and another hostage, Yelena Trupanov, who has not been released.