Arbel Yehud, Agam Berger and Gadi Moses reportedly among 8 hostages to be released tomorrow
Hamas is also expected to release five Thai citizens on Thursday

The Jewish community’s focus shifted from mourning and shock, to advocating for the hostages. Some rallies demanded action from the international community with protests at the United Nations, Oct. 24, 2023. (Luke Tress)
(JTA) — Hamas has reportedly informed Israel that it will free eight hostages tomorrow, including two Israeli women and an elderly Israeli man.
The Israeli hostages reportedly to be released are civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, as well as soldier Agam Berger, 20. In addition, Hamas will reportedly reportedly free five Thai citizens taken captive during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack whose names are not public.
In exchange, Israel will release a larger number of Palestinian security prisoners.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday’s release in order to resolve a dispute over Arbel, who is being held by the terror group Islamic Jihad. Israel had expected Arbel to be freed last Saturday. When she was not, the resulting disagreement threatened to derail the ceasefire.
Moses will be the first man, and the oldest hostage, released as part of the current ceasefire, which began on Jan. 19 and is slated to last at least six weeks. The grandfather of 12 was taken captive from his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz. His partner Efrat Katz was later killed.
Hamas is expected to release three more hostages on Saturday. NBC reported recently that among that number could be American hostage Keith Siegel, 65, one of three American hostages thought to be alive. The others are Sagui Dekel-Chen and Edan Alexander. Hamas is also holding the bodies of four other Americans.
Siegel is from North Carolina, and was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7. Emily Damari, another captive from Kfar Aza who was freed at the beginning of the truce, reportedly asked Hamas to release Siegel instead of her, but the terror group rejected the request.
After Yehud is released, the only civilian women and children still in captivity will be Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir. Hamas said in November 2023 that the three had been killed. Israel has not confirmed that allegation, but recently, an Israeli military spokesman said there were “grave concerns for their fate.”
In addition to the dozens of Israelis it is holding captive, Hamas is also holding eight Thai citizens hostage. Israeli media reported that five of them are expected to be released on Thursday.
The release will bring the total number of hostages still held in Gaza to 82. Of those, 18 more are expected to go free during the first phase of the hostage deal. Hamas has informed Israel that eight of those 18 hostages are dead, though it has not identified which ones.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.