Palestinian Hamas militants release Keith Siegel, a hostage held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, on February 1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Hamas has handed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65, over to the Red Cross, the third hostage to be released Saturday (February 1, 2025) as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.
Mr. Siegel walked onto a stage set up by the sea in Gaza City before militants handed him over to waiting Red Cross officials, while thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to watch on a large screen, waving signs and cheering.
Earlier, the militants released Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, to the Red Cross in similar scenes in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. All three were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
The truce, which began January 19, is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
The fragile deal has held for nearly two weeks, halting the fighting and allowing for increased aid to flow into the tiny coastal territory.
Also Read | Hamas frees 8 more hostages; Israel releases Palestinian prisoners after delay
During the truce’s six-week first phase, a total of 33 Israeli hostages are expected 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’ October 7, 2023, attack or have died in captivity.
Also on Saturday (February 1, 2025), wounded Palestinians are expected to be allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing. It had been the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed it in May. A European Union civilian mission was deployed Friday (January 31, 2025) to prepare for the reopening of the crossing.
The reopening would mark 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 are scheduled to be evacuated through the Rafah crossing along with 61 companions.
Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 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.
Meanwhile, the release of Mr. Bibas has brought renewed attention to the fate of his wife, Shiri, and their two young sons. All four were captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
A video of their abduction by armed men showed Ms. Shiri swaddling in a blanket her two redheaded boys — Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months old at the time.
Kfir was the youngest of about 250 people taken captive on October 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 Ms. Shiri and her sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed that but a military spokesman recently acknowledged serious concern about their fates.
Like Mr. Bibas, Kalderon 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.
Ofer Kalderon’s two children, Erez and Sahar, were abducted alongside him and released during a 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.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France “shares in the relief and joy” of Kalderon’s return after 483 days of “unimaginable hell,” adding that France would continue doing all it can to secure the release of another French Israeli hostage still being held in Gaza.
The dozens of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel on Saturday include people serving lengthy and life sentences.
More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire in Nov. 2023. About 80 more hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third of them believed dead. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the 33 to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire are 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. A key far-right partner in Netanyahu’s coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
Hamas says it won’t release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
In the October 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, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.
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.
Published – February 01, 2025 02:52 pm IST
