The militants of the Hamas released three male hostages in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, and Israel began to publish 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, part of a ceasefire that has stopped for 15 months of intensive fighting.
The militants broadcast Yardenbibas and French Israeli Ofer Kalderon to civil servants of the Red Cross in the southern city of Khan Younis, while the American Israeli-Geisel Keith Siegel looked pale and thin, later released to the Red Cross in Gaza City in the north on Saturday morning in Gaza City . All three were kidnapped on October 7, 2023 during the attack on Israel led by Hamas.
Their publication brings the number of hostages published since the beginning of the ceasefire on January 19. Both events on Saturday were quick and tidy, in contrast to chaotic scenes, the hostage publication developed on Thursday.
In both publications on Saturday, masked and armed militant stood in lines when the hostages went to a stage and waved before they were derived and handed over to the Red Cross.
In Tel Aviv’s hostage, thousands of people gathered to observe how the publications were broadcast live on a large screen, signs and cheer.
The ceasefire aims to end the most fatal and most destructive war between Israel and the militant group of Hamas. The deal has held for two weeks, stopped the fights and increased help to flow into the tiny coastal area.
During the six -week first phase of the ceasefire, a total of 33 Israeli hostages are to be freed in an exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says that Hamas has received information that eight of these hostages were either killed in Hamas on October 7, 2023 or died in captivity.
Leave gaza for medical treatment
Also on Saturday, wounded Palestinians were allowed to leave the Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed in May. A civil mission of the European Union was used on Friday to prepare for the reopening of the intersection.
The reopening marks another important step in the first phase of the ceasefire, which requires the return of the Palestinians to the northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the destroyed area.
The Ministry of Health said that 50 sick and wounded children should be evacuated with 61 companions by the Rafah crossing.
Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in the Gaza Ministry of Health, said that more than 6,000 patients are ready to be evacuated abroad, and more than 12,000 patients were urgently treated. He said that the small numbers that are to be set for the evacuation will not meet the needs, “and we hope that the number will increase.”
In South Israel there was sigh in a living room and cheers, in which members of the Kibar Aza Kibbutz Keith Siegel’s publication observed. Many of those in the room were family fans who applauded when they saw Siegel’s face while some were torn.
The 65 -year -old seal from Chapel Hill, NC, was taken hostage together with his wife Aviva Siegel. It was released during the ceasefire from 2023 and led a top -class campaign for the free Keith and other hostages.
Siegel is one of the highest profile Geiseln, which is now a well-known name in Israel according to his wife Aviva Siegel, which was also recorded in the Hamas attack, a public campaign to after its own release in November 2023 To bring home.
The 35 -year release of Bibas steered the fate of his wife Shiri and her two young sons Ariel, four, and Kfir, nine months old. All four were captured by Kibbutz Nir OZ.
Kfir was the youngest of around 250 people who were captured on October 7, and his emergency quickly represented the helpless and anger that the hostage -sore grown -up in Israel built, where the Bibas family became a well -known name.
Hamas said Shiri and her sons were killed in an Israeli air raid. Israel has not confirmed this, but a military spokesman recently recognized serious concern about her fate.
The 54 -year -old Kalderon was also captured from Kibbutz Nir OZ.
In Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv, Kalderon’s family hugged and cheered when they saw the pictures of him climbed onto the stage in Khan Younis and were transferred to the Red Cross.
“Ofer comes home!” They said their arms raised the sky.
Kalderon’s two children, Erez and Sahar, were kidnapped next to him and released during a short ceasefire in November 2023. Family members said they were only able to recover from their ordeal until their father returned.
The Hamas published 3 Israel and five Thai citizens in a chaotic hostage -transfer situation in Gaza, which prompted Israel to briefly delay the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.
“We are sorry that it took so long,” said Eyal Kalderon. “We will soon be an entire family again. We hope that other families will soon feel that way until the last family.”
Of the approximately 250 people who were originally kidnapped by militants during the attack on October 7, more than 100 were released during a one -week ceasefire in November 2023. About 80 others are still in Gaza, at least a third of them believed dead.
Israel and the Hamas are set next week to negotiate a second phase of the ceasefire, in which the remaining hostages released and the armistice is to be extended indefinitely. The war could be resumed in early March if no agreement is made.
Israel says that it is still obliged to destroy Hamas, even after the militant group restored its rule within hours after the last ceasefire via Gaza.
“They said that Hamas was over during the war. It’s not finished or something. It is as if nothing happened to them as you can see” El Saife in Khan Younis.
Hamas says she will not publish the remaining hostages without an end to war and a complete Israeli retreat from the GAZA.
Around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the attack on October 7, which started the war. According to the Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 47,000 Palestinians in Israel’s retaliation and in the ground war were killed in the Ministry of Health in Israel.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters without providing any evidence. It accuses Hamas civilian deaths because its fighters work in residential areas.
