Palestinian militants released three more hostages in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as part of the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli citizen Ofer Calderon, 54, were handed over to representatives of the Red Cross in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.
About two hours later, US-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel, 65, was freed in Gaza City. With his release, Saturday’s hostage handovers were complete.
In exchange, Israel was to release 183 Palestinian prisoners.
The hostages kidnapped 484 days ago were taken to an Israeli military base, where they were to meet their families.
They are then to be transferred to hospitals.
A truce in Gaza has been held for nearly two weeks.
Four swaps have freed 18 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian detainees.
A three-phase ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19 aims to achieve a permanent end to the fighting and the release of hostages still being held by the Iran-backed Hamas militia and their extremist allies.
After the release of the three abductees on Saturday, 79 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, 35 of whom are presumed dead by Israel.
Another exchange of hostages and prisoners is set for next weekend.
During this initial six-week stage, 33 Israeli hostages are due to be released in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas has said that eight of the 33 hostages on the list for release during this phase are dead.
It is unclear who exactly they are.
Yarden Bibas was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his wife Shiri and two sons Kfir and Ariel. Kfir was just nine months old when militants took him.
All four are scheduled for release in the first phase of the agreement, but there is grave concern over the fate of Kfir, Ariel, and Shiri.
Hamas has claimed the three were killed in Israeli attacks in the early months of the war, but Israel has never confirmed their deaths.
Ofer Kalderon, a 54-year-old carpenter, also lived in kibbutz Nir Oz.
Militants kidnapped him along with his children, who were 11 and 16 years old at the time.
All are French citizens. His son and daughter were released almost two months later as part of the first Gaza agreement.
Kalderon’s son reportedly watched militants beat his father bloody and set fire to the family home.
Keith Siegel was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with his wife Aviva.
Militants drove the Siegels into the Gaza Strip in their car at gunpoint.
Aviva was released along with some 100 other hostages during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.
She said they broke her husband’s ribs during the kidnapping.
According to media reports, his mother died in the U.S. while he was being held hostage.
Meanwhile, the transfer in Khan Younis and the one in Gaza City proceeded calmly on Saturday morning – unlike the chaotic conditions surrounding the release of eight Israeli and Thai hostages on Thursday, when crowds swarmed around the frightened-looking captives.
After these threatening scenes, Israel demanded that the countries that brokered the ceasefire agreement compel Hamas to keep the transfers orderly.
Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups killed around 1,200 people in their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and took more than 250 Israelis hostage to the Gaza Strip.
The attack triggered the war in the sealed-off coastal area, where more than 47,400 people have been killed since then, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
The number does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
(dpa/NAN)
