The Palestinian armed group Hamas listed the names of three hostages set to be released this Saturday in exchange for a cease-fire with Israel. These include 53-year-old Israeli Ofer Kalderon and 34-year-old Israeli Yarden Bibas, in addition to American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65 years old.
Kfir is the 10-month-old son of Yarden Bibas; his wife Shiri and their other son, Ariel, now four, were also taken captive in that attack. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office has confirmed it has received the names of the hostages.
In exchange, Israel is expected to free another group of Palestinian prisoners, in what would be the fourth such exchange since the ceasefire went into place on January 19. Since the Hamas attack began on October 7, 2023, which claimed close to 1,200 lives, about 251 hostages have been taken.
The war has reduced Gaza to rubble, and 47,460 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel military assault, the health authorities in the territory said.
Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas were kidnapped from Nir Oz, while Keith Siegel was kidnapped from Kfar Aza. The fate of Bibas’s family is not known since Shiri and the couple’s two children were also taken hostage.
The release that is to take place will bring the total hostages released under the ceasefire to 18. Besides that, on Saturday, 183 Palestinian prisoners are set to be released, of which 111 were detained after October 7, 2023. To date, 400 Palestinian prisoners have been released in return for hostages; many have gone back to the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, while serious offenders have been deported.
But the latest exchange underlined how brittle the arrangement was. Israel briefly held up the release of prisoners after complaints were raised about the treatment of eight hostages as they were being freed. Witnesses described crowds of onlookers watching as seven of the eight were escorted to Red Cross vehicles flanked by armed men.
Later, mediators assured the Israeli Prime Minister’s office that safe exits for the remaining hostages would be guaranteed.
