Hamas releases video showing release of hostages

The military wing of Hamas have released a video showing the release of Israeli hostages Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Yitzhak, who also goes by the name Nurit Cooper.

The video shows masked men escorting the two women as they are met by representatives of the Red Cross. At one point, Lifshitz – who is 85 – turns to shake the hand of one of the Hamas fighters.

The Palestinian militants said they released both women on health grounds, after taking them and more than 200 others hostage during the 7 October rampage in Israel in which the militants killed 1,400 people.

Lifshitz and her 83-year-old husband, Oded, were kidnapped from their home at the Nir Oz kibbutz, close to the border withGazain southern Israel, the Israeli prime minister’s office said late on Monday. Oded remains captive, it added.

Lifshitz is a peace activist who together with her husband helped sick Palestinians in Gaza get to hospital for years, her grandson told Reuters.

French president Emmanuel Macron has arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport:

French President Emmanuel Macron was met on his arrival by Israeli-French nationals who lost loved ones in the Hamas attack of 7 October, as well as the families of hostages.