Hamas freed the first two of six Israeli hostages due to be freed Saturday under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The two hostages -- Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 39 – were put into Red Cross ambulances after being brought out onto a stage by masked and armed Hamas fighters in front of a crowd in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The ambulances then headed toward a nearby crossing into Israel. The latest hostage release, to be followed by the freeing of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, is going ahead after tensions mounted over a heart-wrenching dispute triggered this week when Hamas initially handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother of two young boys.
