Israel and Hamas are set next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Palestinian health authorities in Gaza also announced that the long-shuttered Rafah border crossing with Egypt would reopen on Saturday for thousands of Palestinians who desperately need medical care — a breakthrough that signals the ceasefire agreement continues to gain traction.
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Here's the latest:
Palestinian Authority says Israel will begin releasing Palestinians held without trial after Oct. 7 attack
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority’s commission of prisoners’ affairs says that a total of 183 Palestinian prisoners are slated for release Saturday in exchange for the three Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
In a sign that the ceasefire agreement is progressing, this release departs from the previous formula of 30 Palestinian prisoners for each Israeli hostage to include more Palestinian detainees who were rounded up in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that began the war.
As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel has agreed to release about 1,000 Palestinians from Gaza who were detained on suspicion of militancy and have been held without trial since the day after the Oct. 7 attack.
The Palestinian Authority said that on Saturday, Israel will release 111 of these Palestinians from Gaza on the condition that they did not participate in the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, the first of what will be several such releases staggered over the six weeks of the Phase 1 ceasefire deal.
The other 72 Palestinians set to be released Saturday were serving long or life sentences on national security charges connected to their involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. Of that group, 32 hail from the occupied West Bank, where families and friends on Saturday were anxiously awaiting their return, and another 39 come from Gaza.
Seven of the prisoners serving life sentences will be transferred to Egypt before further deportation under the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Freed hostage reunites with father and sister
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military published footage of released hostage Yarden Bibas reuniting with his father and sister at a military base outside of Gaza, where he is undergoing initial medical checks immediately after entering Israel. He closed his eyes as his father, Eli, and sister Ofri hugged him fiercely. “Sweetheart,” his father said, as the family embraced and cried.
Bibas, 35, is the father of the two youngest hostages in Gaza, whose plight has become a rallying cry for Israelis. The Bibas sons — 4 years old and 9 months old at the time of their abduction — and their mother, Shiri, are still in captivity, and feared dead.
Shiri Bibas and the two children are the last woman and children held in captivity in Gaza who have not been confirmed dead by Israel.
In November 2023, Yarden Bibas was filmed by Hamas as he was told that Shiri Bibas and the children were kidnapped and killed in an Israeli airstrike. In the video, filmed under duress, Yarden is sobbing and pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring their bodies to Israel for burial.
Israel dismissed the video as “psychological terror” and said there was no concrete information about the status of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, but there have been no signs of life from the three in the past year.
Siegel returns to Israel
Israel confirmed that American Israeli hostage Keith Siegel had crossed the border from Gaza after being handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross at a ceremony in Gaza City. The Israeli military said in a statement that he was headed to a reception point at a military base, where he would be met by family members before heading to a hospital.
Family of French Israeli hostage celebrates his return
PARIS — The family of Ofer Kalderon said they were “overwhelmed with joy, relief and emotion” after his release by Hamas.
Kalderon, a 54-year-old French-Israeli citizen, was one of three male hostages released Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal that halted fighting in Gaza after more than 15 months of war.
Kalderon was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7, along with his daughter Sahar and son Erez. The children were released in November 2023 during a temporary ceasefire.
“Today, we finally embrace Ofer, seeing and truly comprehending that he is here with us,” his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters. “We have witnessed how, through extraordinary mental strength, he survived this hell. Ofer endured months in a nightmare, and we are proud of his ability to survive and hold onto the hope of embracing his children again."
The family added a note of support for the remaining hostages still being held by Hamas.
“In the midst of this emotional moment, we must remember all the hostages who remain behind. We have no right to stop until all 79 hostages return home — whether for rehabilitation or for burial,” the family said.
Kibbutz members cheer as their neighbor is released
There were sighs of relief and cheers in the living room where members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza watched Hamas militants hand over hostage Keith Siegel to the Red Cross.
Siegel, an American-Israeli from North Carolina, was captured from the communal farming village by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023.
His neighbors gathered anxiously in front of the television as they watched footage of Siegel, looking thin, emerging from a vehicle and walking through a crowd in Gaza city, flanked by Hamas militants.
Many of those in the room were family friends. They applauded upon seeing Siegel’s face. Some teared up.
Siegel is one of the highest-profile hostages, now a household name in Israel after his wife Aviva Siegel, also captured in the Hamas attack, mounted a public campaign to bring him home after her own release from captivity in November 2023.
Hamas hands over U.S.-Israeli hostage
Hamas has handed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65, over to the Red Cross, the third hostage to be released Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.
Siegel walked onto a stage set up by the sea in Gaza City before militants handed him over to waiting Red Cross officials.
Earlier, the militants released Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, to the Red Cross in similar scenes in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. All three had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
Macron hails release of French citizen
French President Emmanuel Macron has hailed the release of French-Israeli citizen Ofer Kalderon, while noting that another French citizen remains a hostage.
“Ofer Kalderon is free! We share the immense relief and joy of his family after 483 days of unimaginable hell," Macron posted on X.
Our thoughts are with Ohad Yahalomi, still in the hands of Hamas, and his family. France is doing everything in its power to secure his immediate release.”
Red Cross vehicles arrive in Gaza City for planned hostage release
Red Cross vehicles have arrived in Gaza City where Hamas is set to release American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65, as part of the fourth round of hostage releases in its ceasefire deal with Israel.
Two other hostages — Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54 — were released earlier Saturday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. In return for the three, Israel is to release dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
2 freed hostages return to Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel — Two released hostages, Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas, have arrived in Israel and are on their way to an initial reception point. Along the road leading to the military base, small groups of supporters waited for the convoys waving Israeli flags.
The two hostages were freed Saturday as part of the fourth such release in Israel's ceasefire with Hamas. One more, American-Israeli Keith Siegel, is set to be released in Gaza City later Saturday morning.
Hamas hands 2 hostages over to Red Cross
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed two hostages over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday as part of its ceasefire deal with Israel.
The militants released Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, in a highly stage-managed and orderly handover to the Red Cross. Both had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
Another hostage, American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, was also set to be released Saturday and was expected to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City to the north.
Red Cross vehicles arrive at site of planned hostage handover
Red Cross vehicles arrived in a location in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday where Hamas was set to release hostages in its ceasefire deal with Israel.
Who are the Israeli hostages expected to be freed today?
The hostages to be released, according to Hamas and Israel, are: Yarden Bibas, 35; American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65; and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54. All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
News that Yarden Bibas, 35, is among the hostages set to be freed on Saturday brought renewed attention to the uncertain fate of the Bibas family. Hamas says his kidnapped wife and two young boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has not verified the claim.
A video of their abduction by armed men showed Shiri swaddling in a blanket her two redheaded boys — Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months old at the time. Kfir was the youngest of about 250 people taken captive on Oct. 7, and his plight quickly came to represent the helplessness and anger the hostage-taking stirred in Israel, where the Bibas family has become a household name.
Like Bibas, Kalderon was also captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His two children and ex-wife, Hadas, were also taken, but they were freed during the 2023 ceasefire.
Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was released during the 2023 ceasefire and has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and other hostages.
Ceasefire holds for now but next phase will be harder
Today’s exchange is part of a deal that paused fighting in Gaza on Jan. 19. Israeli forces have pulled back from most of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes and humanitarian groups to surge assistance.
It calls for Hamas to release a total of 33 hostages, including women, children, older adults and sick or wounded men, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the hostages to be released in this phase are dead.
The initial Phase One ceasefire paused fighting for six weeks, calling for the sides to use that time to negotiate a second phase in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages and the ceasefire would continue indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Negotiating a phase two deal could be difficult. Hamas says it won't release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, after reasserting its rule over Gaza within hours of the truce.
Meanwhile, Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, and a key far-right partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is already calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP