17 more hostages - 14 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals - return to Israel

Seventeen more hostages were released by the Hamas terror organization on Sunday evening and transported to the Israeli border by the International Red Cross.

Around 6:30 p.m., the IDF confirmed that 13 hostages were received by the IDF and Shin Bet forces at the border fence

One of the elderly hostages, 84-year-old Alma Abraham, was evacuated by a helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheva directly at the border, as she was reportedly in serious condition.

The remaining 12 hostages were then driven to Hatzerim Air Base near Beersheva, where they were to be sent for a medical checkup in a hospital.

“The Israeli government embraces the 17 abductees who returned to Israel, 14 of our citizens and three foreign citizens, who returned to Israel today," according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

"Their families were informed by the appointed officials that they are on their way to Israel. The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abductees and missing persons."

Meanwhile, four hostages – three Thai nationals and a Russian citizen – were taken through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, where they were met by Israeli forces and were scheduled to be taken to Israel shortly after, according to the newspaper al-Arabiya.

The IDF had initially announced that 13 Israelis, one Russian national, and three additional foreign nationals were on their way to Israel. However, Israeli media later reported that the Russian national, who was not released as part of the hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, was a dual Russian-Israeli citizen.

He was reportedly released by Hamas following a request by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Responding to the efforts of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and as a sign of appreciation for the Russian position supporting the Palestinian issue, we released a hostage with Russian citizenship,” Hamas announced on Sunday evening.

The Russian government said about hostage release: “The efforts made by Russian diplomats in talks with Hamas regarding the release of hostages are yielding results. Today, a Russian passport holder was released and handed over to the Red Cross.”

“Russian diplomats will visit him as soon as possible. The release took place outside the list of exchanges, we are talking about direct agreements between representatives of Russia and Hamas. This work will continue.”

Contrary to the previous days, some of the released hostages did not pass through the Rafah border crossing to Egypt on their way to Israel on Sunday.

This may have been due to the location of the release on Sunday evening, as the previous two groups of hostages were released from the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, while this group was released from the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the PMO, these are the identities of the released Israeli hostages:

- Avigail Idan (4 years old)

- Alma Avraham (84 years old)

- Aviva Adrian Siegel (62 years old)

- Ron Krivoi (25 years old), a dual Russian-Israeli citizen

The Brodutch family:

- Hagar Brodutch (40 years old) and her children:

- Ofri Brodutch (10 years old)

- Yuval Brodutch (8 years old)

- Uriah Brodutch (4 years old)

The Goldstein-Almog family:

- Chen Goldstein Almog (48 years old), and her children:

- Agam Goldstein Almog (17 years old)

- Gal Goldstein Almog (11 years old)

- Tal Goldstein Almog (8 years old)

The Elyakim family:

- Dafna Elyakim (15 years old)

- Ella Elyakim (8 years old)

CORRECTION: Our original article mistakenly reported that 18 total hostages were released. This was corrected to 17 at 7:35 p.m.

This is a developing story.