Israeli-Dutch teen released by Hamas after over 50 days as hostage

Ofir Engel, an 18-year-old Israeli-Dutch boy who was given accelerated Dutch citizenship, was one of the hostages Hamas released on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Affairs Minister Hanke Bruins Slot confirmed. The then-17-year-old boy was taken hostage during Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

“I am extremely happy and relieved that Ofir Engel has been released after being taken hostage by Hamas. After this horrible time, he can now finally be reunited with his family and friends,” Rutte said. “My deepest gratitude to Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. for their crucial role.”

Engel was the only one of the 240 people kidnapped from Israel by the terrorist organization to have direct Dutch ties. His family is overjoyed with his release, his grandfather Jucha Engel said on Op1. The boy seems to be doing okay. “He could walk by himself,” the grandfather said after seeing video footage of the hostage transfer. “And he’s wearing the same thing he dressed in 54 days ago.”

Hamas handed Engel and nine other hostages over to Red Cross employees, NOS reports. They’ll first go to Egypt and then back to Israel, to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they’ll be reunited with their families.

Engel was born in Israel, his grandfather in the Netherlands. Before the hostage-taking, the family had started a procedure to naturalize the boy as a Dutch citizen. That process pushed through quickly when the boy was taken hostage in the hope that Engel would be released more quickly if he had dual nationality.

So far, Hamas has released 81 hostages. In return, Israel released 180 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Most of the released are women and children.