On Monday afternoon, two friends, Khaled al-Shaer, 60, and Musa Qishta, 59, were walking toward their destroyed homes in the city of Rafah near the Egyptian border with Gaza. They had gone out for a stroll to pass the time until that day’s Ramadan fast ended at sunset.
An Israeli hostage who was held by Hamas for more than a year described his captivity, saying the treatment of hostages was tied to how Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody were treated, according to Israeli media.
Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday in exchange for Israel's release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was to end.