3 Women, 60 Men Still Held Hostage in Gaza

Photo Credit: TPS / Screenshot from Hamas video

Hisham al-Sayed is seen wearing an oxygen mask in the picture taken from the video released by Hamas.

Sixty men and three women — Inbar Hayman, Judi Weinstein Haggai and Ofra Keidar — are still being held hostage in Gaza, according to the latest assessment by the Israeli government.

Of those, at least 36 have been murdered, government spokesperson David Mencer told reporters on Monday, adding the figure includes the body of fallen IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, abducted in 2014.

The bodies of four murdered hostages are to be returned to Israel by Hamas this week, but after its repeated violations, it is unclear whether the terrorists will comply with the agreement.

Six living hostages were returned to Israel by Hamas on Saturday but were first paraded before hundreds of screaming terrorists and their supporters in Gaza in a humiliating “release ceremony” before finally being handed over to Red Cross personnel for transfer to Israel.

Among the six living returnees was Hisham al-Sayed, a mentally ill Israeli Bedouin who was held hostage since 2014, when he wandered into Gaza.

Hisham’s father said his son returned unable to speak properly, with memory loss and in a severely weakened state.

“He is not well; he was not in our world. A kind of Tarzan after living for 10 years with animals. He does not communicate,” the elder al-Sayed said.

Three days earlier, Hamas held a similar, ghoulish ceremony that featured on a stage the coffins of 9-month-old Kfir Bibas, 4-year-old Ariel Bibas, 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz and the body of an unidentified Gazan woman who was presented instead of the children’s murdered mother, 33-year-old Shiri Bibas.

One day later, the terrorists later admitted to their “error” and transferred the body of Shiri Bibas to Israeli security personnel.

In response, Israel refrained from releasing 608 terrorists in exchange for the freed hostages, turning the buses around and sending the convicts back to their prison cells.

“The government of Israel has made the decision that as a result of the repeated violations of the framework by Hamas, the released of the convicted security prisoners from Israeli prisons has been delayed,” Mencer told reporters in Monday’s briefing.

“Let me make this clear: Israel will not overlook the inhumane, degrading ceremonies that humiliate our hostages for propaganda,” he emphasized.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that no further talks would be held until Israel released the terrorists that were to be freed on Saturday.