The group representing the families of Israeli hostages confirmed the names of three other captives on Friday that Hamas should hand over on Saturday, and there is a double American-Israeli national. Keith Seigel, 65, from North Carolina, moved to Israel four decades ago and was among those seized during the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 in Hamas.
Hamas had previously provided three names and Israeli officials confirmed the reception of the list, but it was the forum of hostages and missing families that confirmed the identity, saying that it welcomed “the joyful news concerning the liberation Expected from Keith Siegel “, as well as Israeli nationals Yerden Bibas and Oger Calderon.
The wife of Seigel, Aviva Seigel, was also taken during the attack, who saw militants killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage, but she was released under a brief ceasefire agreement- fire in November 2023 and the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas.
Addressing CBS News about a year after his release, Seigel said that there were moments when Hamas activists forced her, as well as her husband, through tunnels under the Gaza Strip that they felt “sure we were going to die”.
Yarden Bibas, 35, is the husband of Shiri Bibas, who was withdrawn from their Kibbutz with her two young children Ariel and Kfir during the terrorist attack. Hamas asked Only a few weeks after the attack that Shiri and his two children were killed in an Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
In a television interview about half a year later, the Minister of Israeli Government Benny Gantz said that the officials knew what had happened to the Bibas family, but said that he could not provide details. The fact that, under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas released women and children before male hostages, suggested that the rest of Yarden Bibas’ family was indeed dead.
OFER CALDERON, 54, was one of the five members of his family seized by Hamas activists from their KIBBOUTZ near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023. His two children were released During the ceasefire in November of the same year, but two of his cousins were killed.
Talk to CBS Boston Only two weeks ago, Calderon’s cousin Jason Greenberg said that he still didn’t know if he was dead or alive.
“It is difficult to imagine that anyone can bear so long and even come back the same person,” said Greenberg. “If it comes back alive, it’s a miracle.”
3rd exchange of hostages prisoners finished, but not gently
Eight hostages held by Hamas and its allies in Gaza were released Thursday In exchange for the publication of 110 Palestinian prisoners, in a third exchange facilitated by the fragile Casefire Agreement which entered into force on January 19.
The exchange started gently with the transfer of the woman Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20. It was a relatively ordered manner in the middle of the ruins of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. But the process turned into chaos when large crowds surrounded the Israelis Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moïse while they were transferred by militants to the Red Cross staff in the south of Gaza about an hour later.
The scenes have angry the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delayed the release of the Palestinian prisoners for a few hours until, according to his office, the mediators of the cease -consistent agreement.
President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff ended a visit and left Israel Thursday after the three hostages are released. He spent a large part of the day visiting Gaza, where he went with members of the Israel Defense Forces, “to inspect the implementation [of the ceasefire]Because it is so important, “he told Axios.
“The way this happens will influence our ability to reach the two-time phase of the agreement,” said Witkoff.
Americans are always held in Gaza
Seven American citizens, including Seigel, are among the 82 remaining hostages that stand in Gaza, dead and living.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey, would be alive, while four other Americans were killed in captivity.
According to the terrorist ministry of Hamas, the Israel’s puffy military offensive, in response to Hamas’ terrorist attack, killed more than 46,000 people in the enclave. Whole districts have been leveled, and practically all 2 million inhabitants of the territory have been moved from their homes, many of which are on several occasions.
