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Courtesy the families/TPS-IL on 19 January, 2025
Cleared for Publication: First 3 Hostages to Be Freed Identified
Jerusalem, 19 January, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- The three Israeli hostages to be released on Sunday are 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, 24-year-old Romi Gonen and 28-year-old Emily Damari, an Israeli-UK national, it was cleared for publication.
Steinbrecher, a veterinary nurse, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She takes medicine daily for a chronic condition. In her last sign of life, Steinbrecher was seen in a Hamas propaganda video released in January 2024.
Gonen, a waitress from Tel Aviv, was abducted from the Nova Music Festival after three people in a car with her were murdered. Gonen’s last words in a desperate phone call to her mother were, “They shot me, Mom and I’m bleeding. Everyone in the car is bleeding.” One of the hostages freed during a temporary ceasefire in November 2023 told Gonen’s family that Romi was alive but in bad health.
Damari was abducted from her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza’s youth neighborhood and was shot in the hand. Emily’s mother, Mandy, had campaigned tirelessly in both Israel and Britain on behalf of her daughter and the other hostages.
The ceasefire went into effect on Sunday morning at 11:15 AM after Israel confirmed receiving an hours-overdue list of the hostages to be returned. Hours later, Hamas listed the names of three women on its Telegram channel. The families initially asked journalists to respect their privacy and not prematurely report the names of the three, but by mid-day, they lifted their objections.
Less than one hour before the ceasefire was originally supposed to begin, the IDF announced it had recovered the body of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, whose body was held in Gaza since 2014.
The first phase of the ceasefire will see 33 Israeli hostages freed over a period of several days in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. The exact number will depend on how many of the 33 hostages are alive. Meanwhile, Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected a legal petition against the release of the Palestinians on Sunday morning.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 95 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead.
