Three other hostages freed from Hamas. Kalderon, Bibas and Siegel at home after 484 days

With an operation once again highly scenographic but carried out in a more sober and orderly way of the previous ones, Hamas has released three other hostages Israelis detained for 484 days in the Gaza strip. Yarden Bibas, father of the children Ariel and Kfir, of Argentine origin, Ofer Kalderon, e Keith Siegel were released within the fourth Exchange of hostages-projectors Palestinians foreseen by the Tregue Agreement in the Gaza Strip.

The first to be released to Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, were Bibas (35 years old) and Kalderon (54), kidnapped on October 7, 2023: the two appeared on the stage set up by Hamas surrounded by a crowd of militiamen. They were then delivered to the Red Cross that escorted by the Palestinian group transferred them to the hands of the Israeli army (IDF). Lastly, at the port of Gaza City – on a stage that had the waves of the sea, the green flags of Hamas, the photos of the killed Islamist leaders and the word “Nazi Zionism will not win” – was freed Siegel, 65 years old . Among the three, the most tried one appeared: he greeted with a nod of the hand, while he brought two bags with him. Israel hasreleased 183 Palestinian prisonersmore than double the 90s initially announced.

While the release operations took place on live TV, a crowd of people and demonstrators followed the liberation of the hostages in the square in Tel Aviv. Bibas is the father of the two younger hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, during the armed assault on the southern Kibbutz: they are the small Kfir and Ariel, who then had eight and a half months respectively and four years. Even Bibas’s wife, Shiri, has been kidnapped and now fear the worst for her and the two children who have not yet returned to any of the previous exchanges that provided for the release of women and children and who according to Hamas were killed in a Israeli bombing.

Jerusalem has never confirmed their death and many cling to the hope that they are still alive. La famiglia drink And was kidnapped in Kibbutz Nir Oz and since then i Two red -haired children They became the symbol of the suffering of the hostages to Gaza. Kalderon, with double Israeli and French citizenship, had also been kidnapped in Kibbutz Nir Oz, with his sons Erez and Sahar, who at the time had 12 and 16 years respectively. The two teenagers were released during the first truce in November 2023. The French president Emmanuel Macron, on X, expressed “joy” for the liberation of Kalderon after “an unimaginable hell”.

Siegel, also an American citizen, and his wife Adrienne, known as Aviva, had been seized from their home in the Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Adrienne was released during the first ceased fire in November 2023. Bibas and Kalderon met families in the structure of the Idf in Reem, near the border, after undergoing first medical and psychological checks.

The Truce agreement between Hamas and Israel It provides for the return of 33 hostages, eight of which died, in a first phase of six weeks and the release of about 1,900 Palestinians. In this period it will also be necessary to agree on how to implement the next phase of the fire, aimed at definitively ending the war started in October 2023 and completes the liberation of the hostages still alive. A high Israeli official said that the negotiations on the matter will resume on Monday.