When Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released its propaganda video of three Israeli hostages being released Sunday night, there was a striking detail.

As Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari got into a Red Cross SUV in Gaza City, a Hamas militant handed each of them a paper bag with the Qassam Brigades’ logo on it – a “gift bag,” of sorts.

The masked militant then held up a certificate that, in Hebrew and Arabic, read “release decision.”

Each of the three women was carrying the bag in footage released later Sunday by the Israel Defense Forces – albeit this time with the Qassam’ Brigades logo blurred.

A representative of Gonen’s family told CNN on Monday that the bag she received held the certificate, a necklace and photos – and said that Israel’s Internal Security Agency (the Shin Bet) had confiscated the materials.

They would not go into detail about the photo, but Israeli media reports that the photos depicted the women’s time in captivity.

During the handover, a Red Cross representative was asked to sign an Arabic-language document. “Acknowledgment of Receipt of Israeli Prisoners,” the document read. “I, the representative of the International Red Cross, acknowledge that I have received from the Izz Eddin al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, a total of three prisoners, who are…” and then the names of the hostages.

After 471 days in forced captivity, the idea that a hostage would receive a gift bag is undoubtedly bizarre.

At its core is an attempt by Hamas to present itself as an undefeated, serious governing body. Fifteen months after staging its audacious, devastating attack on Israel in October 2023, Hamas knew this would be a big moment for the militant group.

The message was clear, to Israelis, to Gazans, and to those watching around the world: We are a legitimate governing body, still in charge, who have serious and legal protocols – even if they pertain to Israeli civilians taken by force from their homes.

It was on display, too, in Gaza City’s Al Saraya Junction. A row of Qassam militants lined the street – a message to the Israeli public, whose government has pledged to destroy the group.

The gathering of a few dozen militants in Gaza City is hardly proof of a serious military threat.

But the images will fuel both the extremist right-wing in Israel, who believe the ceasefire is a capitulation, and those who favor dialogue, who will argue that if 15 months of unrelenting war failed to dislodge Hamas, further bloodshed is folly.

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, admitted on Sunday that Israel “hadn’t met the objective” of dismantling Hamas’ military and government. “We had an advancement,” he said.

The Israeli military and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families, declined to comment on the video.

Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned that Israel was far from meeting its goal.

“We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost. That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war,” Blinken said recently.

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Relatives of freed Gaza hostages call for release of remaining captives

The relatives of the three Israeli hostages released from Gaza by Palestinian militants Hamas called on Monday for all those remaining in the territory to be freed.

Speaking at a press conference at the Sheba hospital where the three women are being treated, they gave no details on the conditions in which their relatives had been held for 471 days or on their health.

Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were released on Sunday as part of the first round of exchanges that also saw around 90 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of Romi Gonen, said: "We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same outcome, both the living and the dead. Our hearts go out to the other families."

"We are a people who desire peace but are ready for war when needed," she added.

Yamit Ashkenazi meanwhile passed on a message from her sister Doron Steinbrecher.

"Everyone needs to return, until the last hostage comes home. Just as I was fortunate to return to my family, so must everyone else."

Mandy Damari, the mother of British-Israeli Emily Damari, said her daughter was "in high spirits".

She called for all the hostages to be released and for humanitarian aid that was going into the Gaza Strip to also go to the remaining captives.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 91 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military has said are dead.

A further two hostages who are presumed alive have been held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 respectively, as has the body of a soldier killed in the 2014 Gaza war. The three are also due to be released as part of the deal.

Before the press conference, the Israeli military released new footage of the moment the three freed hostages were reunited with their mothers at an Israeli military base.

In the footage, the three women are seen embracing their mothers tightly as they meet for the first time after their release.

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