The armed men of Hamas released three additional hostages and Israel released more than 180 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, quickly making the last exchange in a cease-fire agreement and avoiding chaos that marked a transfer drawn up earlier this week.
Hamas released two of the hostages, Yarden Bibas, 35, and Opers Kalderon, 54, during a very theatrical ceremony in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza. The group then published the third hostage, Keith Siegel, a 65 -year -old American Israeli, during a separate ceremony in Gaza City. The three, escorted by workers from the Red Cross, then went to hospitals in Israel, where they found their families after 15 months in captivity.
In exchange, Israel said that he had released 183 Palestinian prisoners. The buses bearing the released Palestinians reached the city of Ramallah in the West Bank occupied by Israeli, according to the video of the scene, where a crowd of people welcomed them. The Red Cross also brought a group of prisoners released to the European hospital in Khan Younis, according to a doctor and a Palestinian information center linked to Hamas.
The Israelis watched the lives live from the hostages released from what has become known as “Organ Square” in Tel Aviv, applauding while the three were delivered. Relatives have expressed relief and joy, as well as sadness that family members spent so much time in captivity.
“This moment came 484 days too late,” said Ifat Kalderon, Mr. Kalderon’s cousin, in an interview with Kan News, the Israeli public broadcaster. “But it finally happened.”
In Khan Younis, some Gazans cried and others were happy when the released prisoners arrived at the European hospital, according to Saleh al-Homs, the doctor.
Some of the releases had been perpetuity in Israel after being found guilty of participation in deadly attacks. The Israelis consider these prisoners as deadly terrorists and deplored their release. But the Palestinians often consider them as fighters of freedom against Israel.
“They were happy to see the prisoners come back,” said Dr. Al-Homs, “but saddened by the heavy price that was paid.”
According to officials of Gazan Health, more than 45,000 gasans were killed during the devastating campaign of bombing and the field of Israel, who do not distinguish civilians and combatants. In the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war, around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were kidnapped, according to Israeli officials.
The exchange on Saturday was the fourth in a multi-phase ceasefire agreement that Israel and Hamas accepted last month. Under the agreement, Hamas undertook to release at least 33 of the 97 hostages remaining in the first six weeks, in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. More than 30 of the remaining hostages are said to have died. The mediators hope that the agreement will conduct at the end of the war, which left large bands of Gaza in ruins.
As the exchanges of hostages and prisoners took place, another important step in the ceasefire agreement was crossed because the sick and injured people were authorized to leave Gaza for the ‘Egypt by the framework of the Rafah border for the first time in almost nine months.
The reopening of the crossing, a major duct connecting Gaza to the outside world, was a central element of the ceasefire agreement. The crossing closed after Israel invaded Rafah, the most southern city of Gaza in May.
But officials of the Gaza Ministry of Health said that only 50 of the thousands of sick and injured people who need treatment outside Gaza could cross on Saturday. Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, head of the World Health Organization, said that 12,000 to 14,000 people need treatment outside Gaza for serious injuries and chronic diseases.
The rapid release of the three hostages on Saturday contrasts with the frantic scenes of an exchange Thursday, when activists had trouble controlling the crowd of Palestinians who surrounded two hostages. Israel then delayed the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners until he said that he had received guarantees that chaos would not be repeated.
On Saturday, Hamas fighters brandishing rifles organized theatrical ceremonies aimed in part to highlight the group’s control in Gaza, despite the death of many of its commanders.
Masked armed men have placed a large perimeter around the two areas where Hamas delivered the three hostages to the Red Cross. Small crowds gathered on the outskirts to watch the transfers. They did not seem to advance forward while Mr. Kalderon, Mr. Bibas and Mr. Siegel were put on scenes with a musical explosion.
In Gaza City, where activists released Mr. Siegel, the voice of a ceremonial master exploded on a loudspeaker, praising the armed wing of Hamas.
Activists dressed in black paraded Mr. Siegel, pale and glove, through a scene for their cameras.
Before the exchange, Hamas fighters were standing on stage, a banner behind them declaring that “Nazi Zionism will not win”. They raised portraits of commanders from Hamas killed during the war.
Hamas released Mr. Bibas without his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel, who was 4 years old, and Kfir, who was 9 months old when they were kidnapped during the October 7 attack.
Hamas said last year that Ms. Bibas and the two children were killed on an Israeli air strike, an assertion did not confirm Israeli officials. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the soldiers last week was “seriously concerned” for the mother and the children. All other children seized during the October 7 attack were released during the 2023 ceasefire.
The video of the day of the attack led by Hamas showed a distraught Bibas tightening her two children to her chest – images which have become burning symbols for many Israelis of the cruelty of the assault on October 7. The hostage families and their supporters transported orange balloons and worn orange shirts in honor of the children of Bibas, who had red hair.
After the release of Mr. Bibas on Saturday, the Israeli government shared a video of him gathered with his father and sister, who hugged him and kissed him.
Mr. Kalderon was met by his children in a hospital outside Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli government. In the video he shared, Mr. Kalderon’s children can be seen cry and laugh by kissing him. Two of his children were also kidnapped during the October 7 assault and were released in this year’s ceasefire.
Mr. Siegel was the first American double hostage-Israeli to be released from captivity since the last cease-fire came into force two weeks ago. Israeli authorities said they thought two other American-Israeli hostages are still alive in Gaza.
In Khan Younis, Dr. Al-Homs said that many Palestinian prisoners released on Saturday had lost weight, and that some needed support for walking after hard conditions in Israeli prisons.
“Some of them-perhaps four or five-I knew personally, they also worked in the Ministry of Health,” he said during a telephone interview. “But I had trouble recognizing them.”
Among the people published on Saturday, Shadi Amouri, who was serving several sentences in perpetuity for his involvement in a bombardment of suicide of 2002 which killed 17 people in Israel, most of them on leave. Mr. Amouri, like six of the other Palestinians released on Saturday, will be expelled in another country and not authorized to return home to the West Bank, according to the conditions of sale.
Another Palestinian released on Saturday was Mohammad El Halabi, a humanitarian worker whose conviction in Israel for underlying Hamas aid funds caused an uproar of rights for the rights. His employer, World Vision – a well -known Christian rescue organization – said that an independent investigation had found no evidence of reprehensible acts, and that the family and lawyer for Mr. Halabi also disputed the accusations.
The exchange on Saturday came while the Arab nations presented a united front against the recent call of President Trump to Egypt and Jordan to welcome Gazans, as part of an effort to, in the words of M .
Egypt and Jordan immediately rejected this suggestion and Saturday, the two countries were joined by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
They published a joint declaration warning that any plan that encouraged the “transfer or uprooting the Palestinians of their lands” would threaten stability in the region and “would undermine the chances of peace and coexistence among its people”.
