Hamas tones down theatrics a notch for latest hostage release

Hamas released three more Israeli hostages on Saturday – noticeably thinner and paler after 16 months in captivity – in a ceremony replete with some of the group’s typical propaganda but slightly toned down compared with recent weeks.

Since the ceasefire with Israel went into effect in late January, Hamas has turned the releases into propagandistic performances that have angered Israelis and showcased the group’s continued dominance in the Gaza Strip even after 15 months of devastating war. The latest handover was no exception.

Dozens of gun-toting militants affiliated with Hamas and with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group, cleared out a square around a makeshift stage in the southern city of Khan Younis for the exchange. Some brandished what appeared to be Israeli weapons, another part of the carefully choreographed display.

In a jab at President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to evacuate Gaza en masse, a banner on the stage was emblazoned with the slogan, “There is no migration except to Jerusalem.” Hamas and other Palestinian factions – as well as much of the Arab world – have angrily rejected the Trump proposal.

The militants also affixed a picture of Matan Zangauker, a hostage who will not be released under the current phase of the ceasefire, next to a photograph of his mother, who has campaigned tirelessly for his freedom. Next to them, an hourglass had been placed with a threatening caption underneath: “Time is running out.”

The Hamas captors later gave the hourglass to one of the freed hostages, Iair Horn.

Triumphant pop music praising Hamas and its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, blared in the background. One song praised the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that started the war and Yahya Sinwar, one of the assault’s masterminds, who was killed last year by Israeli forces.

Sinwar became Hamas’ leader in Gaza after his release from Israeli prison in 2011. He had vowed to free more jailed Palestinians through a swap with Israel, which was one of the motives behind the mass abduction of some 250 Israelis during the Hamas attack.

“From your prison, Sinwar emerged with might to continue the fight and prepare a deal of liberation,” the singer crooned to a percussive beat, referring to the hostage-for-prisoner exchange with Israel.

From there, the ceremony unfolded relatively smoothly.

The gunmen kept a small crowd of Gaza residents away from the release area, in contrast to the chaotic scenes at some previous handoffs.

Hamas militants summoned a Red Cross official to the stage to formally sign paperwork as part of the release before bringing the three men out of a vehicle that had ferried them to the scene.

The militants then made the three hostages give remarks in Hebrew from the makeshift stage.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American Israeli hostage, haltingly said that he hoped the remaining captives would be released.

“I am finally out in the sunshine, coming out to the light,” Dekel-Chen said. He may have been speaking literally – many hostages have been held for extended periods in Hamas’ underground tunnel network.

Unlike last week, however, the Hamas captors did not prod the three men into thanking those who had held them hostage for more than a year in Gaza. Those scenes – combined with the gaunt appearance of the hostages released last Saturday – prompted horror and fury in Israel.

The three newly released hostages were then ushered to the waiting Red Cross vehicles that would take them to Israeli forces waiting to receive them.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.