Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in next ceasefire swap

Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in next ceasefire swap

Hamas and Israel will conduct their next swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with three Israelis, including the father of the youngest hostages, to be freed in return for 90 people held in Israeli jails.

After holding them hostage for 15 months, militants in Gaza began releasing captives on January 19, when the first phase of a ceasefire with Israel took effect.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far handed over 15 hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and minors.

Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, named the captives to be released on Saturday as Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, who also has US citizenship, and Ofer Kalderon, who also holds French nationality.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed it had received the names of the three hostages to be released.

In exchange, Israel will free 90 prisoners, nine of whom are serving life sentences, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said.

During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which started the Gaza war, militants abducted Siegel from the Kfar Aza kibbutz community, and Kalderon and Bibas from kibbutz Nir Oz.

Militants took a total of 251 people hostage that day. Of those, 79 still remain in Gaza, including at least 34 the military says are dead.

Those seized include the wife and two children of Bibas, whom Hamas has declared dead, although Israeli officials have not confirmed that.

The two Bibas boys -- Kfir, the youngest hostage, whose second birthday fell earlier this month, and his older brother Ariel whose fifth birthday passed in August last year -- have become symbols of the suffering of the hostages held in Gaza.

The children were taken along with their mother, Shiri. Hamas says an Israeli air strike in November 2023 killed the boys and their mother.

"Our Yarden is supposed to return tomorrow and we are so excited but Shiri and the children still haven't returned," the Bibas family said on Instagram. 

"We have such mixed emotions and we are facing extremely complex days."

- Chaotic scenes -

"Hamas, where are the Bibas babies?" the Israeli foreign ministry posted on X.

"483 days have passed. Where are they?"

After the swap takes place on Saturday, Gaza's key Rafah border crossing with Egypt is set to reopen, a Hamas official and a source with knowledge of discussions told AFP.

"The mediators informed Hamas of Israel's approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow, Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange," the Hamas official said, with the source explaining evacuations of the injured would take place at the crossing "as per the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement".

The Rafah crossing was a vital entry point for humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza before the Israeli military seized the Palestinian side in May.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Friday the bloc has deployed a monitoring mission at the crossing "to support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care."

The arrangements for hostage handovers in Gaza have sometimes been chaotic with scenes during Thursday's handover in the southern city of Khan Yunis condemned by the Israeli prime minister as "shocking".

Woman hostage Arbel Yehud was visibly distressed as masked gunmen struggled to clear a path for her through crowds desperate to witness her handover, television images showed.

Israel briefly delayed Thursday's prisoner release in protest and the ICRC urged all parties to improve security.

"The security of these operations must be assured, and we urge for improvements in the future," ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said.

Later on Thursday, Israeli authorities released 110 inmates from Ofer prison, including high-profile former militant commander Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, who received a hero's welcome in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

On Friday he called for "all our Palestinian people" to be freed from Israeli jails.

"The situation of the prisoners is very difficult and we hope for their urgent release," Zubeidi told AFP on the sidelines of a reception celebrating his release.

- 'Where's Dad?' -

Also freed was Hussein Nasser, who received little attention from the crowd but was at the centre of his daughters' world.

"Where's Dad?" Raghda Nasser asked tearfully as she moved through the crowd, an AFP correspondent reported.

Raghda, 21, hugged her father in the flesh for the first time Thursday night. Her mother was pregnant with her when he was jailed 22 years ago.

"I just visited him behind the glass in Israeli prisons. I cannot express my feelings," Raghda said.

The fragile ceasefire's 42-day first phase hinges on the release of a total of 33 hostages in exchange for around 1,900 people, mostly Palestinians, in Israeli jails.

Negotiations for a second phase of the deal are set to start on Monday, according to a timeline provided by an Israeli official. 

This phase would cover the release of the remaining captives and would include discussions on a more permanent end to the war.

bur-jd/csp/it

Originally published as Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in next ceasefire swap