Hamas released a group of 12 hostages on Tuesday, most of them Israelis or dual nationals but also including two Thai nationals, all of whom had been kidnapped during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
It was the fifth group to be released since Friday, when a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect.
Here’s what we know about the Israeli hostages released on Tuesday.
Clara Marman, 63; Mia Leimberg, 17; Gabriela Leimberg, 59
Clara Marman, Mia Leimberg and Gabriela Leimberg.Credit…Hostages and Missing Families Forum
Ms. Marman, 63, a member of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, was taken hostage on Oct. 7, along with her partner, Luis Norberto Har, and three visiting family members: a brother, Fernando Marman, 60; a sister, Gabriela Leimberg, 59; and Ms. Leimberg’s 17-year-old daughter, Mia Leimberg, a high school senior who lives in Jerusalem.
Moshe Leimberg, Gabriela’s husband and Mia’s father, stayed home in Jerusalem that day because he had the flu.
In a notice he posted on LinkedIn, Mr. Leimberg said that since Oct. 7,he had heard nothing from or about his wife and daughter. “Not a word, not a picture,” he wrote. “They just disappeared, leaving behind a few scattered personal effects, almost as if they never existed.”
Their absence, he said, “has left a gaping hole.”
Gabriela Leimberg is the manager of a day-care center for youth adults with autism. The organization, the Shekel Association, has pleaded for the family’s release.
Mia Leimberg, who is known for her singing voice, has studied at the Jersualem High School of the Arts, and also worked at a bookshop, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. The family dog was takenwith the family; on Tuesday, videos on local news outlets showed Mia carrying a dog as she approached the International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles.
A banner hanging at Mia’s high school reads, “We’re waiting for you, Mia, to come back.”
Mr. Har and Mr. Marman are still believed to remain in Gaza.
Ditza Heiman, 84
Ditza Heiman, 84, was one of the first members of Kibbutz Nir Oz and had spent her entire adult life at the kibbutz, her son, Gideon Heiman, said at a news conference held by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum earlier this month.
Ms. Heiman, who worked as a social worker, retired just before she turned 80, Mr. Heiman said. “She spent her whole life helping people and helping take care of people,” he said.
Ms. Heiman requires anticoagulant medication and suffered from a pulmonary embolism in the past, Dr. Sharon Kleitman, the family physician of Kibbutz Nir Oz, said at the same news conference.
“My mother is not a healthy woman, and she needs medicine,” Mr. Heiman said.
When the family tried to call Ms. Heiman on the day of the attack, someone picked up and said, “It’s Hamas,” her daughter, Neta Heiman, said in a video posted by the forum.
“When I envision my mother there, she’s taking care of everyone,” Ms. Heiman said in the video, adding: “That’s my mother. She’ll take care of everyone if she only can. If they only let her.”
“My mother, and many of her friends on Kibbutz Nir Oz who were massacred, were people of peace,” Neta Heiman said in an opinion piece in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, adding, “All that my mother and her friends wanted was to live in peace in the small Eden they had built there in the desert.”
Tamar Metzger, 78
Tamar Metzger, 78, was taken hostage along with her husband, Yoram Metzger, from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, according to a report in the Times of Israel. The couple has three children and seven grandchildren.
She had worked in the kibbutz nursery and ran the general store, but in recent years had been a full-time grandmother, spending a lot of time caring for her grandchildren, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Tamar has limited mobility, according to the forum, and spends a lot of time on her balcony, reading, doing crossword puzzles and smoking cigarettes.
Her husband is believed to remain in Gaza.
Noralin Babadila, 60
Noralin Babadila, 60, was visiting friends at Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7, when terrorists attacked, killing her partner, Gideon Babani, and taking her hostage. The kibbutz was celebrating the anniversary of its founding that weekend.
Ms. Babadila was born in the Philippines but lived in Yehud, a city in central Israel. She spoke with her brother by telephone in the early morning of Oct. 7 and told him that she was scared and that she might not return, according to a report in The Times of Israel.
Ada Sagi, 75
Ada Sagi, 75, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, has taught Hebrew and Arabic, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.
The child of Holocaust survivors from Poland, she moved to a kibbutz when she was 18, according to The Associated Press.
She was getting ready for a planned a trip to London to visit her family and to celebrate her 75th birthday when she was kidnapped on Oct. 7.
Meirav Tal, 53
Meirav Tal, 53, her boyfriend, Yair Yaakov, and his children, Or, 16, and Yagil, 12, were all taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.
Both Or and Yagil were released on Monday, the fourth day of the cease-fire, as part of a group of 11 freed Israeli hostages.
Yair Yaakov is believed to remain in Gaza.
Rimon Kirsht, 36
Rimon Kirsht, 36, and her husband, Yagev Buchshtab, 34, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7.
The couple married two years ago, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, and had five dogs and five cats, most of which had been abused before being adopted.
Ms. Kirsht practices alternative medicine and reflexology, and volunteered at Maslan, a support center for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in southern Israel.
Ms. Kirsht loves growing plants, adopting and raising animals and listening to music, favoring Israeli bands, Guns N’Roses and U2, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.
Ms. Kirsht was included in a hostage video released by Hamas in late October. Mr. Buchshtab is believed to remain in Gaza.
Ofelia Adit Roitman, 77
Ofelia Roitman, 77, moved to Israel from Argentina in 1985, according to a Facebook post by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.
She lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz and has nine grandchildren.
Ms. Roitman was an educator who taught first and second grade students for twenty years, her daughter, Natalie Madmaon, said in a video posted by the Israeli public broadcaster, Kan.
Her family lost contact with her on Oct. 7, Ms. Madmaon said in the video.
She worked in education in the kibbutz for many years, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.
