Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening reiterated that Israel will do “everything” to bring back all the hostages who remain in Gaza and vowed to eliminate Hamas, the terrorist organization that carried out the deadliest single-day attack in the Jewish state’s history on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a video statement released on X, Netanyahu welcomed Or Levy, 34, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, who were released from Hamas captivity on Saturday morning and reunited with their loved ones in Israel.

Before their release, Hamas terrorists paraded the hostages on a stage in front of a raucous crowd of Palestinians in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. The three men appeared frail and emaciated.

“Or, Eli, and Ohad returned home today. Sara [Netanyahu] and I embrace them and their dear families,” the prime minister said.

“Once again, we have seen [the true nature of] Hamas’s monsters. These are the same monsters who massacred our civilians and abused our hostages. And I say to them again: Their blood is on their own hands,” the premier said.

“We will do everything to bring back all our hostages. We will ensure their security. This is the instruction I gave to the delegation—to convey this to the mediators and to demand it,” Netanyahu continued, referring to the Israeli delegation departing for Qatar this weekend for talks on the terms of the second stage of the truce with Hamas.

“But beyond that, President [Donald] Trump completely agreed with me: We will do everything to bring back all the hostages, but Hamas will not be there. We will eliminate Hamas and bring our hostages home,” Netanyahu said.

Earlier, Netanyahu’s office released a statement welcoming home the captives. “The government of Israel embraces the three returnees,” it read, adding, “The shocking images that we have seen today will not go unaddressed.

“The government, together with all of the security officials, will accompany them and their families. The government of Israel is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing,” it read.

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has become the first person working for the court to be subjected to economic and travel sanctions by the Trump administration, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to submit a report within 60 days naming people who should be sanctioned. Khan’s name was designated in an annex a day later, which was not yet made public, according to the report.

Those blacklisted are barred from entry into the U.S., along with their families, and their U.S. assets are frozen.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met last week with Trump in the White House, praised the move during a visit to Congress on Friday.

He called the ICC “scandalous,” saying it “threatens the right of all democracies to defend themselves.” In November, the court issued arrest warrants for the Israeli premier and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

Trump’s move targeting the Hague-based ICC over its investigations of U.S. citizens and U.S. allies is a repeat of a measure he took during his first term, when in June 2020 he ordered economic and travel sanctions against International Criminal Court employees involved in an investigation into whether U.S. troops committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

The tribunal on Friday decried the sanctions, vowing to back its staff and “continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it,” Reuters reported.

Two-thirds of the court’s member states, 79 in total, issued a joint statement warning that the U.S. measure could “threaten to erode the international rule of law.”

It added, “Sanctions would severely undermine all situations currently under investigation as the Court may have to close its field offices.”

Khan, who is British, paid a visit to New York as recently as Jan. 27 to brief the U.N. Security Council on Sudan.

As the chief prosecutor is a frequent traveler to New York, U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday that “we trust that any restrictions taken against individuals would be implemented consistently with the host country’s obligations under the U.N. Headquarters agreement.”

Trump’s order from Thursday includes a declaration of a national emergency to respond to the court’s “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

“The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse and possible arrest,” the order states.

Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the court, which is a stand-alone entity and is not part of the United Nations. Both Washington and Jerusalem assert that they are not subject to the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

The Israeli Air Force on Saturday attacked Hezbollah forces in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit said.

“An IAF aircraft conducted an intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah operatives in the area of the Beqaa in Lebanon,” the statement read.

“The strike was conducted after the terrorists were operating in a strategic weapons manufacturing and storage site belonging to the terrorist organization,” the military continued.

“The activity at the site is a broad violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” it stressed, referring to the ceasefire terms with Hezbollah signed on Nov. 26.

“The IDF continues to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to rebuild its forces, in accordance with the ceasefire understandings,” the statement concluded.

This was the second consecutive day in which the IAF carried out attacks in the Land of the Cedars.

The Air Force conducted precision strikes overnight Friday inside Lebanon, targeting two sites containing Hezbollah weapons. The military did not specify the location of the sites.

On Monday, Israeli forces dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure in Southern Lebanon, as part of the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing defensive operations there, the military said.

Soldiers from the 769th “Hiram” Territorial Brigade and 7th “Storm from the Golan” Armored Brigade located weapons storage facilities containing what the IDF said were significant stockpiles of military equipment.

Additionally, Israeli forces killed several Hezbollah operatives in the area and detained individuals who posed a threat to their mission.

The Israel Defense Forces redeployed from the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza to outposts along the perimeter of the Strip as part of the implementation of the hostages-terrorists swap agreement with Hamas.

“Forces from 162nd Division, 143rd Division and 99th Division under the Southern Command have been deployed at several points in the Gaza Strip region to strengthen the defensive layer for the residents of the western Negev and the State of Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said on Friday.

Senior officers of the IDF’s Southern Command held a field assessment along with fighters on the ground in anticipation of the next phase of the release of the Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The IDF began to withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor in late January, enabling the return of displaced Gaza residents to the northern Strip.

Defense Minister Israel Katz emphasized that Israel will continue to strictly enforce the ceasefires, both with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning that any violation will be met with a strong response. Meanwhile, Gazan residents have been cautioned against approaching IDF troops, including near the Rafah Crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egyptian border.

On Wednesday, IDF fighters fired on suspects who posed a threat to them in several parts of the Gaza Strip, the army said.

In one instance in southern Gaza, soldiers identified suspects and fired warning shots to distance them. After the suspects continued advancing toward the troops, the troops fired “additional shots to remove the threat.”

The Israeli Air Force on Saturday attacked a facility in southern Syria belonging to the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist organization, the IDF said.

“A short while ago, Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by the Intelligence Directorate and Northern Command, struck a Hamas weapons storage facility in the Deir Ali area of southern Syria. The weapons were intended for perpetrating terror attacks against IDF forces,” the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit said.

“The Palestinian terror organizations, led by Hamas, operate by exploiting Syrian territory to establish terrorist activities under Iranian direction,” the military added.

It went on to say that Israel will continue to strike Hamas “wherever it attempts to establish itself” and will act against terrorist efforts “to expand and strengthen [their forces].”

Last week, Israeli soldiers stationed in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights were fired upon.

“The troops operating at the scene responded by firing shots toward the area from which the shots were identified,” the IDF said in a statement, without giving further details.

No injuries were reported in the incident, and the soldiers continued with their military activity, the statement read.

Following the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime in December at the hands of a Sunni jihadist uprising, Israel took control of part of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in commanding terrain along the border, in what was described a temporary protective measure against hostile elements.

However, during a visit to the Syrian side of Mount Hermon on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “The IDF will remain at the summit of the Hermon and the security zone indefinitely to ensure the security of the communities of the Golan Heights and the north, and all the residents of Israel.”

The U.S. State Department has notified Congress about its plan to sell $7 billion worth of weapons to Jerusalem, on the backdrop of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last week.

As the formal notice typically comes after an appeal to the top four lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who can raise objections, an approval by Congress is now more likely to occur, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

The plan consists of two separate plans that were submitted to Congress on Friday.

The first includes an array of munitions from 166 small-diameter bombs to 2,800 500-pound bombs, as well as thousands of guidance kits, fuses and other bomb components and support equipment, totaling $6.75 billion and to begin delivery this year, according to the report.

The second arms package, for $600 million, includes 3,000 Hellfire missiles and will begin its delivery in 2028, with additional training by the U.S. military.

Since entering into office on Jan. 20, U.S. President Donald Trump lifted a partial arms embargo on 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, withheld by the Biden administration over concerns about the war in Gaza.

To a question as to why he released the bomb sale, Trump responded, “Because they [Israel] bought them.”

Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the Oval Office after his second inauguration, where the president proposed a plan to allow the Palestinian to voluntarily depart from the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle elsewhere. The two men also discussed the present Gaza ceasefire, as well as the strategy to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the month that Netanyahu and his team are expected to press Trump to move forward with a separate set of arms transfers initially requested by the Biden administration, totaling more than $8 billion.

“The weapons haven’t yet received full approval because of a hold by some Democratic lawmakers,” the paper noted, citing a congressional official.

Democrats have continued to express reservations about the weapons deal as they engage with the new administration, said a spokesman for the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In the wake of Trump’s shipment approval regarding 2,000-pound bombs, Netanyahu said in a video message, “Thank you, President Trump, for keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself, to confront our common enemies and to secure a future of peace and prosperity.”

Israel has selected two potential exit points to allow Palestinians leave Gaza in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to resettle the Strip's population.

At a briefing on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces presented Defense Minister Israel Katz with a draft plan for safe passage, consisting of Ramon Airport, some 250 kilometers away from Gaza near Eilat, and Ashdod Port, about an hour’s drive up the Mediterranean coast from the Strip, according to an unnamed Israeli official cited in a report from Bloomberg on Friday.

As things stand, the source continued, the military is assessing which of the five land crossings between the Strip and Israel would serve as a safe passageway with security screening.

The idea of resettlement, suggested by Trump at a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on Tuesday, received the backing of most Israelis, according to a Channel 12 News survey.

However, while 69% supported the plan, with 18% opposing it, only 36% believed it was practical, as Arab countries and some Western governments voiced their opposition to the idea.

Both Egypt and Jordan, named by Trump as potential destinations for the resettlement of Gazans, vehemently rejected the proposal.

In Israel, reports emerged that OC Military Intelligence Directorate Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder issued a warning about the proposal, warning that it could trigger violence in Judea and Samaria.

This propelled Katz to release a statement on Friday, saying, “There will be no reality in which IDF officers will speak out against U.S. President Trump’s important plan regarding Gaza, and against the directives of the political echelon.”

The Defense Ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit was put in charge of the planning, the report read.

During a meeting on Friday at the Oval Office with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Trump seemingly placed caveats on his proposal, saying there was “no rush” to implement it.

Trump said that his comments about Gaza being turned over from Israel to the U.S. as a “real estate transaction” have been “very well received,” and did not necessitate American soldiers being deployed to the Strip.

“We’re not talking about boots on the ground or anything, but I think the fact that we’re there, that we have an investment there, [will go] a long way to creating peace. We don’t want to see everybody move back and then leaving again in 10 years. We want to see stability and it would bring stability in the area,” the U.S. president said.

Voluntary departure

On Thursday, Katz said that he had instructed the IDF to prepare a plan to facilitate the voluntary departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

“The plan will include exit options at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air,” he said. “I welcome U.S. President Donald Trump’s bold plan. The residents of Gaza should be allowed to enjoy the freedom of exit and migration as is customary everywhere in the world.”

Katz went on to state that “countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway and others, which have made false allegations against Israel’s actions in Gaza, should by any account allow every Gazan resident to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse to do so. There are countries like Canada, which has a regulated immigration program, that have expressed a desire in the past to absorb residents from Gaza.”

Israel has been engaged in a devastating war in Gaza ever since Hamas carried out the single-day deadliest attack in Israel’s history on Oct. 7, 2023. The war has entered a ceasefire, hostages-terrorists exchange agreement phase over the past three weeks, as Washington seeks a permanent end to the conflict.

Eli Sharabi, 52, was released from Hamas captivity on Saturday, alongside Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy. He was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led massacre.

But his story is not just one of abduction, it is a family tragedy. His wife, Lianne, and their two daughters, 13-year-old Yahel and 16-year-old Noya, were murdered. He how has to face the harrowing reality that his immediate family has been wiped out.

"We are overwhelmed and so happy to hear Eli's name on the list of those returning tomorrow. I want to thank everyone and all of Israel for standing with us. Now, please let us support Eli and protect his privacy," said the wife of Yossi Sharabi, Eli's sister-in-law, whose husband was murdered in captivity and whose body remains in Gaza, said on Friday.

At the same time that Eli was taken, his brother Yossi, 51, who also lived in Be'eri, was kidnapped. Hamas later released a video of him in captivity, but in June, the IDF informed the family that he had been murdered and that his body was being held in Gaza.

A brother fighting for his life

The Sharabi family consists of five siblings, two of whom were taken hostage. Stepping into the role of a determined advocate, 48-year-old Sharon Sharabi has become the face of the fight for their return, battling for the release of his brother Eli, who was considered alive in captivity, and for Yossi's body to be brought home for burial.

"Beyond being brothers, we are also best friends," Sharon shared. "We don't even have time to grieve because we are fighting for Eli's life."

Rotem, Sharon's daughter and Eli's niece, also spoken out about the toll on the family. "What we've been going through since then is unbearable. We are not the same family we used to be, something in our bond has been fractured, and it will never be the same again."

Eli is described as a sharp-minded man, a natural leader who always takes command. But in captivity, he was utterly powerless.

The hope for a mother's embrace

The Sharabi family originally lived in Tel Aviv. As a teenager, Eli moved to Be'eri and fell in love with life on the kibbutz. His younger brother Yossi followed him, and together they built their lives there. Their 75-year-old mother was initially shielded from the news of their abduction to spare her the pain. Eventually, the family had no choice but to tell her the truth.

Sharon pictured the emotional moment of reunion. "I can see the moment my mother hugs Eli, after we've lost four family members, Lianne, his wife, and their two daughters, Noya and Yahel. I will let my sisters have their moment first, and then I will say the Shehecheyanu blessing for having reached this time. And then, I will give him the biggest hug I know how to give, with the entire nation behind us."

'They are with us. I hear gunshots': Ohad Ben Ami's message before captivity

The story of Ohad Ben Ami's captivity crystallizes the ongoing hostage crisis through intimate family details: a daughter discovering her father's capture through social media; a wife returning home alone from Hamas captivity; and a warm home in Kibbutz Be'eri that stands empty, waiting for his return.

This 56-year-old resident, taken from his home in sleepwear alongside his wife, Raz, during the Oct. 7 attack, represents one of the many personal tragedies still unfolding in the wake of Hamas's assault on Israel's Gaza border communities.

Ohad and Raz's ordeal began during the Oct. 7 attack on Be'eri, after an extended period hiding in their safe room. The terrorists, who initially passed by their seemingly empty house, later returned. Ohad's last message to his daughter was chilling: "They are with us. I hear gunshots."

The enduring image of his capture shows him being led away by terrorists, dressed only in a short-sleeved shirt and underwear, while his Raz, 57, was similarly taken in her sleepwear.

Soon after being freed from Hamas captivity in November 2023 as part of the first ceasefire deal, Raz shared her anguish: "My husband, Ohad, the love of my life and father of my children, remains in captivity. On October 7, the terrorists shattered our paradise and dragged us in our pajamas into hell. The world must not maintain its silence. Each day he spends there endangers his life. Bring him home now."

The murdered wife, the young son waiting to see him: The story of Or Levy

The couple arrived at the Supernova music festival nine minutes before hell broke loose. As the Gazan rockets rained down, they ran for shelter. Or called his mother, Geula, and told her, "Mom, you don't want to know what's happening here." That was the last time his family heard his voice over the phone.

Ten minutes later, Hamas terrorists threw grenades and opened fire in all directions. Einav was murdered, and Or was abducted into the tunnels of Gaza.

The boy who keeps asking about his parents

Or, a software developer by profession, is the father of Almog, who celebrated his third birthday without his parents. He has been raised by his grandparents, and as time passes, his memories of his mother and father are fading.

"Almog keeps asking about his mom and dad," said his uncle, Michael, in a speech at the U.N. "Even when we try to explain, he doesn't understand why he can't see his father or what the words 'Mom is never coming back' mean. But this boy can still get his father back. Don't let him become an orphan from his father too."

The abduction footage

The Hamas terrorist organization has not released any documentation of Or Levy from captivity, nor has it been reported in the media who among the hostages has seen him or when. However, two videos shed light on what happened to him.

The first is footage from the bomb shelter that has since been dubbed the "death shelter," capturing the moments of terror.

Michael, Or's brother, described the harrowing video: "The last image we have of him is heartbreaking—covered in his wife's blood, dazed and terrified. It's an extremely difficult video to watch. Or is seen surrounded by bodies, one of them Einav's. The terrorists can be heard speaking Arabic to one another, saying that someone is still alive. They ask Or if he is a soldier. You can hear him begging them not to take him, not to shoot him. That video was the first time I saw what had happened to Or."

Michael added, "He's my younger brother. All these years, I was the one protecting him. It was unbearable to see the horror on his face in the most terrible moments of his life, knowing that there was nothing I could do to help him."

Additionally, in June 2024, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a video showing the terrorists driving toward Gaza in a pickup truck on Oct. 7. Inside the vehicle were four hostages, including the late Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eliya Cohen and Or.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

Three Israelis were freed on Saturday after 491 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of hostages redeemed in the ongoing first phase of the ceasefire agreement to 21.

Or Levy, 34, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, were handed over by the Red Cross officials to Israel Defense Forces troops at around 11:15 a.m. local time and driven back to Israeli territory some 30 minutes later.

The IDF brought the freed hostages to a facility near the border for a preliminary physical and psychological examination, and to meet with their families.

Before their release, Hamas paraded the hostages on a stage in front of a raucous crowd of Palestinians in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah. The three men appeared frail and emaciated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement welcoming home the captives. “The government of Israel embraces the three returnees,” it read, adding, “The shocking images that we have seen today will not go unaddressed.

“The government, together with all of the security officials, will accompany them and their families. The government of Israel is committed to returning all of the hostages and the missing," it continued.

The PMO statement concluded with a quote from Psalms (31:15): "Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, from those who pursue me."

“This is what a crime against humanity looks like!” Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote in a post on X.

“The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli—returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained—being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers. We take solace in the fact that they are being returned alive to the arms of their loved ones,” Herzog wrote.

“Completing the hostage deal is a humanitarian, moral, and Jewish duty. It is essential to bring back all our sisters and brothers from the hell of captivity in Gaza—every last one of them!” he added.

After the handover was broadcast live across the globe, the Israeli Health Ministry called on the public to limit its consumption of such images.

“A psychological war is being waged that can cause harm to us,” said Dr. Gilad Bodenheimer, chief of the ministry’s mental health division. “We urge the public to minimize exposure to distressing images and videos and to be mindful of what they, their children and their loved ones are seeing.”

Added the Hostage and Missing Families Forum: “The disturbing images from the release of Ohad, Eli and Or serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt—there is no time to waste for the hostages!”

Levy was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. His wife, Eynav, was killed; their now three-year-old son Almog has been living with his grandparents since the terrorist assault.

Sharabi and his brother Yossi were abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Palestinian invasion. Sharabi's wife and daughters were murdered in their home during the attack, while Yossi has since been confirmed dead, his body still being held in Gaza.

Ben Ami was taken from Be’eri along with his wife, Raz, who was freed as part of a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.

In return, Israel was set on Saturday to release 183 Palestinian terrorists: 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving lengthy terms and 111 who were arrested in Gaza during the war.

Last Saturday, Israelis Yarden Bibas, Ofer Kalderon and Keith Siegel were freed from Gaza. Two days earlier, three Israelis—IDF soldier Agam Berger, 20, along with civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, Gadi Mozes, 80, and five Thai farm workers—Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao and Surasak Lamnao—were redeemed from terrorist captivity.

The previous week, Jerusalem redeemed four female IDF soldiers—Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; and Liri Albag, 19—who were abducted from the Nahal Oz base during the Hamas-led invasion.

Three civilian women—Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher—were released on Jan. 19, shortly after the ceasefire went into effect.

According to Israeli estimates, there are 76 hostages still in Hamas captivity in Gaza, including 73 abducted during the Oct. 7 attacks.

Of the 251 hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023, 178 have been returned or rescued, and Hamas is believed to be holding 35 bodies, 34 of them taken during the cross-border invasion and that of IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin, which was taken by the Palestinian terrorist group in 2014.