Youngest hostages, Americans to be among first freed captives
Little Kfir Bibas and his five-year-old brother are the last children left in Hamas captivity, while an American shot trying to defend his family on October 7 will also be among the first 33 prisoners to be freed.
The youngest Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza will be among the first to be released by the militant group in the first phase of the peace deal agreed with Israel, with the ceasefire set to start on Sunday at 9.15pm (AEDT).
Kfir Bibas, who turns two on Saturday, will be freed along with his five year old brother Ariel and mother Shiri in the first tranche of 33 hostages released in the first phase of the ceasefire, Israeli media reports.
Under the terms of the ceasefire the first prisoners to be released after more than 15 months in captivity will comprise women and children, men over 50 and injured men under 50.
Kfir was just nine months old and beginning to crawl when Hamas terrorists raided his home in the Nir Oz kibbutz, taking his family prisoner.
He and his brother Ariel are the only children left after other child captives were freed in the first hostage releases during the short-lived ceasefire of November 2023 that returned more than 100 prisoners.
The wider family said they dared not hold high hopes for the children’s release with their mother until they crossed the border.
“We are aware of the news that states that our family members are included in the first stage of the agreement and that Shiri and the children will be among the first hostages to be released. We have learned from past experience and disappointments and therefore until our loved ones have crossed the border, there is no end to this story,” the family said in a statement.
The children’s father Yarden won’t be freed in the first phase because, under the terms of the deal, men of military age will be kept prisoner until the second stage of the agreement.
The first three hostages are set to be released on the first day of the deal’s implementation, with four more to go free on the seventh day. After that, three hostages are to be released every seven days, with the final 14 to be released in the final week of the phase, Israeli media reports.
Two American hostages are also expected to be among the first set of prisoners to be freed.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Keith Siegel, who is in his 60s, will be among the first tranche of freed hostages, US officials told reporters at a press briefing.
Mr Siegel’s wife, Aviva, was among those released in the 2023 ceasefire agreement.
Mr Dekel-Chen was shot trying to defend his family in the Nir Oz kibbutz, which qualified him for release under the wounded category, a US official told NBC. His mother died while he was in captivity and his father says he finds it difficult to be optimistic yet.
“As we have learned over the course of the last 15 months and for most of my lifetime in the Middle East, there’s always a surprise, and usually a bad surprise, around the corner,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen told PBS News.
Earlier this week, Arab media reported that American hostages were likely to be among the very first freed, with Hamas transferring them to safe places ahead of the expected truce.
Four other female civilians, five female soldiers, 10 men aged 50 and over, and 11 infirm men will also be among the first 33 brought out, Channel 12 TV reported.
Among the older men expected to be freed is Itzhak Elgarat, 69, who was abducted from Nir Oz kibbutz.
Mr Elgarat’s brother Daniel criticised the agreement, telling Israeli media: “This is not an agreement, this is just hell.
“My brother is going to come in the first stage but we don’t know what his condition is, we don’t know if he is alive, we know nothing.”
The Israelis have named the operation to free the hostages, “Wings of Freedom,” and are completing their final preparations to ensure the hostages’ security and their safe arrival at hospitals in Israel.
As happened in the transfer of prisoners during in November, Hamas will transfer the hostages to the Red Cross, who will then hand them over to Israeli forces. who will transport them to hospital for check-ups. These are likely to be even more thorough than the medical treatment given the first freed hostages: after 50 days, many of those hostages were weak and frail. In comparison, the men and women we see released from Sunday on will have been starved for 15 months, and kept in dark, airless tunnels in constant fear of execution.
The Wall St Journal reports that Israeli teams have conducted simulations, recruited actors and pored over medical records and Hamas hostage videos to be ready to treat the released prisoners appropriately.
Meanwhile a shadow hangs over the families of those men who will remain in captivity until the second phase.
This includes male soldiers and men of military age, one of whom is American citizen Idan Alexander, who is a member of the Israeli military. A US official told reports Mr Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, would be freed in the second phase of the deal.
In December Hamas released a video of Mr Alexander, in which he asked Donald Trump to use his “influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom.”
Mr Alexander’s family and those of other men who will remain in captivity can only hope that the negotiations for the second phase of the deal go smoothly and, unlike last time, the talks won’t break down before their men come home.
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