When Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher stepped out of a Red Cross Jeep and were greeted by IDF personnel upon their return to Israel on Sunday after 471 days in Hamas captivity, they were seen clutching paper bags.

According to Channel 12, these “cynical goody bags” were provided by Hamas terrorists just before handing the hostages over to Red Cross representatives. The report described the gesture as part of Hamas’s ongoing psychological manipulation and propaganda tactics.

The contents of the bags reportedly included a map of the Gaza Strip and photographs of the hostages taken during their time in captivity.

The three individuals were returned to Israel on Sunday evening, where they were immediately sent for medical assessments.

This is not the first instance of Hamas leveraging hostages for propaganda purposes, even in their final moments before release. During a previous hostage exchange in November 2023, Hamas forced the freed individuals to wave for news cameras as part of their media strategy.

{Matzav.com Israel}