Hamas will give the body of four hostages last night to Israel, the Franco-Israeli Ohad Yahalomi should be part of it

If it remained little hope, it is now confirmed. Israel expects to receive the bodies of four hostages who died this Wednesday, at 11 p.m. local time (10 p.m. French time). Among them will be, according to Hamas, the body of Ohad Yahalomi, the last Franco-Israeli hostage in the hands of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

“With all my heart with the family and relatives of our compatriot Ohad Yahalomi,” wrote Emmanuel Macron on his X account Wednesday evening. “In these hours suspended from pain and anxiety, the nation stands alongside them. »»

The bodies of Tzachi Idan, Itzik Elgert and Shlomo Mansour should also be handed over by Hamas in the evening. These remittance of remains are part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. “As part of the prisoner exchange agreement, we decided to hand over the bodies of enemy prisoners this evening,” said the al-qassam brigades on Wednesday in the middle of the afternoon, spokesperson for brigades, Army branch of Hamas.

No Hamas ceremony this Wednesday evening, according to Israel

These four Israeli hostages are the last concerned by the terms of the truce agreement signed between the Hebrew state and Hamas in mid-January. Of the 33 liberable detainees, 25 came out alive, including the Franco-Israeli Ofer Kalderon. Four remains, including those of Shiri Bibas and his two children Ariel and Kfir, have been delivered in recent days. The last four could therefore follow in the evening.

His son, Eitan Yahalomi, released in November

Ohad Yahalomi, a 50-year-old father, was the last Franco-Israeli in the hands of Hamas. Originally from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a border with the Palestinian enclave, he was abducted on October 7 with his son, Eitan, then 12 years old. The teenager was released during the first truce signed in November 2023.

The fate of Ohad Yahalomi, removed in the Kibbutz Nir Oz, was more than uncertain. On January 19, 2024, the Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din brigades, Allies of Hamas, announced the death of Ohad Yahalomi in an Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip. Information that Tsahal had never confirmed. French diplomacy, for its part, claimed to be “without news” of it.

“Lastly, the less time, the less likely there is a chance to find Ohad,” said his wife Bat-Sheva last October. “We were full of hope in the weeks that followed the attack. Today, this is no longer the case. »»

Two other phases of the pending agreement

Of the 251 hostages kidnapped on October 7, 62 remain retained in Gaza, 35 of which died, according to the Israeli army. According to Hamas, only four dead hostages still have to be returned to Israel during the first phase of the agreement.

Tuesday evening, the Al-Qahera News media, linked to the Egyptian state, announced that the mediators had managed to obtain an agreement for the release of the 620 Palestinian detainees in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages. Hamas has confirmed this agreement on Telegram, specifying that it is part of the first phase of the ceasefire with Israel, intervened after 15 months of war consecutive to the attack perpetrated by the Palestinian Islamist organization against Israel.

Hamas said it was ready to release “in one go” all the remaining hostages during the second phase, supposed to definitively end the war. The third and last phase of the agreement must then be devoted to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

During the unprecedented terrorist attack on Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, eight French nationals were removed by the Islamist movement. Erez Kalderon, Sahar Kalderon, Ofer Kalderon, Mia Schem and Eitan Yahalomi were released. Orión Hernández Radoux and Eliya Toledano, they were found dead in the Gaza Strip.