Father of youngest hostage among three men to be released on Saturday, Hamas says
2025-01-31
Category: news

The Palestinian armed group Hamas has released the names of three hostages it says it will free on Saturday under the ceasefire deal with Israel.They are Israelis Ofer Kalderon, 53, and Yarden Bibas, 34, and American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65. Mr Bibas is the father of Kfir, the youngest hostage who was 10 months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas. His wife Shiri and their other son Ariel, four, were also captured.The Israeli prime minister's office said Israel had received the list of hostages.Israel will release another batch of Palestinian prisoners in return.It will mark the fourth such exchange of hostages for prisoners since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January.
Some 251 hostages were taken by Hamas when it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people. The attack triggered a war which has devastated Gaza. Israel's 15-month military offensive killed 47,460 Palestinians in the territory, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas were taken by Hamas from Nir Oz, while Keith Siegel was taken from Kfar Aza.Mr Bibas' wife Shiri, and their two children, Ariel, now five, and Kfir, now two, were also taken captive. Their fate is unknown.Their release will bring the number of hostages freed under the ceasefire deal so far to 18. The Palestinian Prisoners' Association says nine prisoners serving life sentences and 81 serving long terms will be released on Saturday. Israel has not commented.Four hundred Palestinian prisoners - ranging from those serving long sentences for bombings and other attacks to teenagers held without charge - have so far been freed in exchange.Most have returned to the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, while many of the most serious offenders have been deported.The most recent exchange, which took place on Thursday, demonstrated the precariousness of the arrangement. Israel briefly delayed letting the prisoners go after it was outraged by the way eight hostages were treated as they were released.As seven of the eight were freed in Khan Younis, crowds of spectators - many taking pictures with mobile phones - pushed in as the captives were led by gunmen to Red Cross vehicles before being transferred to Israel. In a separate release, in Jabaliya, an eighth was led out through a scene of rubble from Israeli air strikes in a stage-managed event and put on a platform before being handed over to the Red Cross. The Israeli prime minister's office later said it had since received from mediators "a commitment that a safe exit will be guaranteed for our hostages" yet to be released. 