Hamas frees 3 male hostages as Israel releases more Palestinians

Hamas militants released three male hostages being held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday and Israel began releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, part of a ceasefire deal that has halted 15 months of intense fighting.

Militants handed Yarden Bibas and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon to Red Cross officials in the southern city of Khan Younis, while American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, looking pale and thin, was released to the Red Cross later Saturday morning in Gaza City to the north. All three were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.

Their release brings to 18 the number of hostages released since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19. Both of Saturday’s events were quick and orderly, in contrast to chaotic scenes that unfolded on Thursday when armed militants appeared to struggle to hold back a crowd during a hostage release.

In both of Saturday’s releases, masked and armed militants stood in lines as the hostages walked onto a stage and waved before being led off and handed over to the Red Cross.

In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, thousands of people gathered to watch the releases being transmitted live on a large screen, waving signs and cheering.

The ceasefire is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group. The deal has held for two weeks, halting the fighting and allowing for increased aid to flow into the tiny coastal territory.

During the truce’s six-week first phase, a total of 33 Israeli hostages are to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says it has received information from Hamas that eight of those hostages were either killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack or have died in captivity.

Leaving Gaza for medical treatment

Also on Saturday, wounded Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed it in May. A European Union civilian mission was deployed Friday to prepare for the crossing’s reopening.

The reopening marks another key step in the first phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.

The Health Ministry said 50 sick and wounded children were to be evacuated through the Rafah crossing along with 61 companions.

Siegel, 65, originally from Chapel Hill, N.C., was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was released during the 2023 ceasefire and has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and other hostages.

There were sighs of relief and cheers in a living room where members of the kibbutz watched Siegel’s release. Many of those in the room were family friends, who applauded upon seeing Siegel’s face, while some teared up.

Siegel is one of the highest-profile hostages, now a household name in Israel after his wife Aviva Siegel, also captured in the Hamas attack, mounted a public campaign to bring him home after her own release from captivity in November 2023.

Meanwhile, the release of Bibas, 35, brought renewed attention to the fate of his wife, Shiri, and their two young sons, Ariel, four and Kfir, nine months old at the time. All four were captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. 

Kfir was the youngest of about 250 people taken captive on Oct. 7, and his plight quickly came to represent the helplessness and anger the hostage-taking stirred in Israel, where the Bibas family has become a household name.

Hamas has said Shiri and her sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed that, but a military spokesperson recently acknowledged serious concern about their fates.

Kalderon, 54, was also captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

In Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv, Kalderon’s family hugged and cheered as they saw the images of him climbing onto the stage in Khan Younis and being transferred to the Red Cross.

“Ofer is coming home!” they said, arms lifted to the sky.

Kalderon’s two children, Erez and Sahar, were abducted alongside him and released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023. Family members said they weren’t able to recover from their ordeal until their father returned.

“We are sorry it took so long, Ofer,” said Eyal Kalderon. “We will soon be a whole family again. We hope other families will soon feel like this, until the last family.”

Of the roughly 250 people initially abducted by militants in the Oct. 7 attack, more than 100 were released during a weeklong ceasefire in Nov. 2023. About 80 more are still in Gaza, at least a third of them believed dead.

Israel and Hamas are set next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.

Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the latest ceasefire.

Hamas says it won’t release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

In the Oct. 7 attack that started the war, some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air and ground war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential neighbourhoods.