Arbel Yehud is the feminine Israeli hostage on the middle of the disaster, testing the cease-fire settlement between Israel and Hamas. She was captured in the course of the Hamas raid on October 7, 2023. from his residence in Nir Oz, a village in southern Israel close to the border of the Palestinian enclave.
Ms. Yehud, who was 28 on the time, was kidnapped alongside along with her associate, Ariel Kunio, who additionally stays in Gaza.
Ms. Yehud is the final feminine civilian hostage Israel believes is most probably alive. One other civilian girl, Shiri Bibas, stays in Gaza after being kidnapped by Nir Oz along with her two younger sons, Ariel, who was 4 years outdated on the time, and Kfir, who was 9 months outdated. The Israeli military has expressed grave concern for the lives of Ms. Bibas and her youngsters, though their deaths haven’t been confirmed.
Ms. Yehud’s brother, Dolev Yehud, had been lacking for months and was additionally believed to have been kidnapped. It later grew to become clear that he by no means reached Gaza: in June 2024. Israeli authorities declared him useless after his stays have been recognized in Nir Oz by new exams.
Underneath the phrases of the cease-fire settlement, Ms. Yehud was to be among the many first two teams of hostages launched on Jan. 19 and Jan. 25, in line with Israeli officers. Israel demanded that the civilian girls be launched earlier than the captured troopers, four of whom were released on Saturday.
It seems Ms. Yehud could also be within the custody of one other group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. An official with that group instructed the New York Instances on Sunday that she can be launched earlier than subsequent Saturday.
Simply after midnight on Monday, Israel, Qatar and Hamas introduced {that a} decision had been finalized to launch Arbel Yehud and two different Israeli hostages by subsequent Friday, with three extra hostages to be launched on Saturday. In return, Israel will start permitting Palestinians in Gaza who’ve been displaced to return to the northern a part of the enclave, officers mentioned.
Ms. Yehud has deep roots within the Nir Oz group as a third-generation member of her household lives there, in line with the Hostage and Lacking Households Discussion board, a grassroots group that advocates for the hostages’ launch. She labored in the neighborhood training system earlier than changing into a tour information at GrooveTech, an progressive studying middle in southern Israel that focuses on house exploration and expertise.
Ms Yehud and Mr Cunio had returned from a tour of South America shortly earlier than the 2023 assault, in line with the discussion board.
Nir Oz has become a symbol of the failure of the Israeli navy, intelligence and authorities main as much as the assault and failing to guard the nation’s residents that day. It was a small kibbutz, or communal village, of roughly 400 individuals earlier than the assault, throughout which greater than 1 / 4 of its inhabitants was killed or kidnapped.
Talking at a protest on behalf of the feminine hostages in New York in December, Leanne Weiss, a relative of Ms. Yehud, pleaded for his or her launch. “Please shut your eyes for a second and picture: Think about it is you. You’ve got been ripped from your property,” she mentioned, including: “We won’t let this turn into theirs without end. Each second we delay is one other second of agony for these girls. We should act. We now have the ability to alter their future.
