{"id":15624,"date":"2025-02-22T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T19:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/?p=15624"},"modified":"2025-02-22T21:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T19:29:10","slug":"after-nearly-ten-years-in-hamas-captivity-hisham-al-sayed-is-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/after-nearly-ten-years-in-hamas-captivity-hisham-al-sayed-is-free\/","title":{"rendered":"After Nearly Ten Years in Hamas Captivity, Hisham al-Sayed Is Free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Released without Ceremony Due to \u201cPalestinian Roots\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After approximately ten years in Hamas captivity, Israeli citizen Hisham al-Sayed returned home today (Saturday). Al-Sayed, who suffers from mental illness, voluntarily crossed into Gaza in 2015, where he was subsequently detained by the terror group.<\/p>\n<p>His release was carried out separately from other hostages freed today and without any formal ceremony. He was initially received at an Israeli reception site, where he was reunited with his father, Shaaban, and his brother, Wasim. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to a hospital for medical evaluation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15628\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15628\" style=\"width: 632px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15628\" src=\"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22-hisham-with-brothers-at-hospital.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"632\" height=\"421\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15628\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hisham al-Sayed with his brother and father in the hospital | Photo: IDF Spokesperson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Al-Sayed was released in Gaza City and handed over to the Red Cross at a separate location from the other hostages freed today. Hamas deliberately avoided any celebratory announcement regarding his release.<\/p>\n<p>A Hamas source cynically told <em>Al Jazeera<\/em> that his separate release was conducted &#8220;out of respect for his family&#8221; and because of his &#8220;Palestinian roots.&#8221; The move highlights Hamas&#8217; selective handling of captives, using its prisoners as political pawns.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15629\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15629\" style=\"width: 617px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15629\" src=\"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22-reuniting.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"617\" height=\"411\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15629\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emotional reunion | Photo: IDF Spokesperson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15627\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15627\" style=\"width: 549px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15627\" src=\"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22-after-10-years.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"549\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15627\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hisham and his family after 10 years in captivity | Photo: IDF Spokesperson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Israeli citizen, who suffers from mental illness, crossed into Gaza in 2015\u2014tonight, after nearly a decade in Hamas captivity, he was reunited with his loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1477,2995,2337],"class_list":["post-15624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-hamas","tag-hisham-al-sayed","tag-hostage-deal"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.7 (Yoast SEO v24.7) - 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