JAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas handed over the American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65 years old, to the Red Cross. Earlier in the day, the militants did the same with Yarden Bibas, 35 years old, and with the French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, in a similar scene in Jan Yunis, a city in the southern part of the Strip.
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Siegel stepped onto a stage set up by the sea in the city of Gaza before the insurgents handed him over to the Red Cross officials who were waiting for him.
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The three people released today had been kidnapped during the attack led by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.
The truce, which began on January 19, aims to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian insurgent group. In total, 33 Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners during the first six weeks of the truce.
Israel says it has received information from Hamas that eight of those hostages were killed on October 7, 2023, or died during their captivity.
Who are the hostages released on Saturday?
In Israel, the release of Bibas has renewed attention and concern for the fate of his wife, Shiri, and their two young children. The four of them were captured at the Nir Oz kibbutz. A video of their kidnapping by armed men showed Shiri wrapping her two children, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir, in a blanket.
Kfir was the youngest of the nearly 250 people taken hostage on October 7, and his case quickly became a symbol of the helplessness and anger caused by the kidnapping in Israel, where the story of the Bibas family has become well known.
Hamas said that Shiri and her children died in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed the information, but a military spokesperson recently acknowledged a great concern for their whereabouts. It is believed that Yarden Bibas was held separately from her family.
Like Bibas, Kalderon was also captured from the Nir Oz kibbutz. His two children and ex-wife, Hadas, suffered the same fate, but were freed during the 2023 ceasefire.
Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage at the Kfar Aza kibbutz, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. The woman returned to Israel during the first ceasefire and has led a high-profile campaign for the release of Keith and other hostages.
Injured Palestinian children will be able to go to Egypt.
A group of 50 sick and injured Palestinian children started crossing through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, in southern Gaza, heading to Egypt to receive treatment. This is the first border opening since Israel captured it almost nine months ago.
The reopening of the Rafah crossing is a significant development that strengthens the ceasefire agreement reached by Israel and Hamas in early January. The Israeli government agreed to reopen the crossing after the Palestinian insurgent group released the last hostages who were still alive in Gaza.
A civilian mission from the European Union was deployed on Friday in the area to prepare for the reopening of the crossing.
In addition, for this day the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners was contemplated, some with long sentences and life imprisonment.