Fifty patients were also transported from Gaza by Rafah’s passage, on the Egyptian border, opened for the first time since May 2024, the Ministry of Health said
Liberated him on Saturday (1) three more Israelis, including Yarden Bibas, father of Argentine boys Ariel and Kfir, as part of the fourth hostage exchange operation for Palestinian detainees since the beginning of the NO agreement. The army announced in the morning that Yarden Bibas (35 years) and Franco-Israeli Offer Kalderon (54), kidnapped on October 7, 2023, were already in Israeli territory, after the Palestinian Islamist movement handed them to the Red Cross in Khan Ynis, south of the Gaza Strip.
A few minutes later, the army also received the 65-year-old Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was delivered by the Palestinian militia to the Red Cross in the city of Gaza. Israel is expected to release 183 detainees, according to the Palestinian prisoners club, more than double the initial 90s. The first prisoners arrived at noon (local time) Beitunia, in the occupied West Bank. The group was released from the Israeli Military Prison of Off.
Israeli Yarden Bibas is the father of the two younger hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023 during the surprise attack on Israeli territory: Kfir and Ariel, who had eight and a half and four months respectively. The family’s father was released without his wife Shiri, of Argentine origin, nor the two children. It was not possible to determine the whereabouts of the three and the children are the last minors who remain in captivity in Gaza. Hamas said in November 2023 that the mother and children died in an Israeli bombing, but the country’s army did not confirm the information and many people will hope that the three will remain alive.
Hostage Calvary symbol
The family was kidnapped at Kibutz Nir Oz and since then the two children have become the symbol of hostage suffering in Gaza. The announcement caused “confusing emotions” among Bibas’ relatives. “Shiri and the children haven’t been back,” the family said on Instagram. Liberation coincides with the arrival in Israel of Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, who is expected to meet with the families of the nine Argentine-Israeli who remain kidnapped in Gaza.
On the day of the attack, which ended with 1,210 deaths, most civilians, according to Oficiai, Hamas kidnapped 251 people. From the group, 76 remain in captivity, but the Israeli army considers that 34 are dead. Since the beginning of the truce on January 19, Hamas has released 18 hostages – 13 Israeli and five Thai – in exchange for almost 400 Palestinians detained in Israeli arrests, including many minors and women. After 484 days of captivity, the forum of hostage families celebrated the new deliverances, which called “ray of light in the darkness”.
More negotiations
Ofer Kalderon was also kidnapped at Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside Erez and Sahar, his son and his daughter, who at the time were 12 and 16, respectively. The two teenagers were released during the first truce in November 2023. The truce agreement foresees the return, in a first phase of six weeks of 33 hostages, eight of them killed, and the release of almost 1,900 Palestinians. During this period, it is also necessary to negotiate an agreement on the implementation of the next stage of the ceasefire, which aims to end definitively with the war started in October 2023 and to conclude the release of hostages that remain alive.
A source from the Israeli government stated that negotiations for the next stage will resume on Monday (3). The agreement provides for a third phase, with the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory and the return of the bodies of the other kidnapped. Also on Saturday, 50 patients were transported from Gaza by the passage of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, in the far south of Palestinian territory, first opened since May 2024, the Hamas Government Ministry of Health said.
The opening of the passage is part of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas. Doctor Mohamed Zaqut, director general of the ministry, said that nearly 6,000 people were ready for a transfer and that 12,000 need urgent treatment. The Israeli offensive destroyed the territory and caused the deaths of at least 47,460 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government, which the UN considers reliable.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from AFP
