When the mother of one of the Thai hostages held in the Gaza Strip for over a year caught sight of her son on a Facebook livestream after his release Thursday, he had changed so much that she didn’t recognize him at first.

Hamas released eight hostages, including three Israelis and five Thais, as part of a hostage-for-prisoner exchange.

An Israeli hostage held for more than a year by Hamas in Gaza was released Thursday morning, marking the first of eight hostages held by the Iran-proxy militia expected to be released throughout t