Hamas armed men released three other hostages and Israel freed more than 180 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, quickly leading the last exchange in an agreement of ceased and avoiding the chaos that marked a transfer pulled out at the beginning of this week.
Hamas released two hostages, Yarden Bibas, 35, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, in a highly theatrical ceremony in Khan Younis, in the southern strip of Gaza. The group then released the third hostage, Keith Siegel, a 65 -year -old Israeli American, in a separate ceremony in Gaza City. The three, escorted by the workers of the Red Cross, headed to hospitals in Israel, where they gathered with their families after 15 months in captivity.
In return, Israel said he released 183 Palestinian prisoners. The buses that transported the Liberati Palestinians reached the city of Ramallah in the Israeli employed West Bank, according to the video of the scene, where a crowd of people greeted them. The Red Cross also brought a group of prisoners freed to the European hospital in Khan Youunis, according to a doctor there and a center of information on the Palestinian prisoners linked to Hamas.
The Israelis saw the live broadcasts of the hostages that were released from what became known as “Hostage Square” to Tel Aviv, encouraging while the three were delivered. Relatives expressed relief and joy, as well as the sadness that their families had spent so much time in captivity.
“This moment came 484 days too late,” said Ifat Kalderon, Kalderon cousin, in an interview with Kan News, the Israeli public broadcaster. “But it finally happened.”
In Khan Youunis, some Gazas shouted and others were joyful when the liberated prisoners arrived at the European hospital, according to Saleh Al-Homs, the doctor there.
Some of those released had served life sentences in Israel after being sentenced for involvement in fatal attacks. The Israelis consider these prisoners as murderous terrorists and have complained about their release. But the Palestinians often see them as fighters for freedom against Israel.
“They were happy to see the prisoners return,” said dr. Al-Homs, “but saddened by the heavy price that has been paid”.
More than 45,000 Gaza were killed in the devastating campaign of bombings and land of Israel, according to Gazan’s health officials, who do not distinguish between civil and fighters. In the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war, about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were kidnapped, according to Israeli officials.
Saturday’s exchange was the fourth in an agreement of ceased the multi -phase fire that Israel and Hamas agreed last month. Under the agreement, Hamas has undertaken to free at least 33 of the 97 hostages left in the first six weeks, in exchange for over 1,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. It is believed that more than 30 of the remaining hostages are dead. The mediators hope that the agreement leads to the end of the war, which left large bands of ruin gaza.
As the exchange of hostages and prisoners took place, another milestone was reached in the agreement of the fire, while the sick and wounds were authorized to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah border cross for The first time in almost nine months.
The reopening of the crossing, a great duct that connected Gaza to the outside world, was a central piece of the agreement of ceased the fire. The intersection closed after Israel invaded Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, in May.
But the officials of the Ministry of Health of Gaza have said that only 50 out of thousands of sick people and wounds who need care outside Gaza would be able to cross on Saturday. Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, an official of the World Health Organization, said that 12,000 to 14,000 people require care outside Gaza for serious injuries and chronic diseases.
The rapid exit of the three hostages on Saturday is in contrast with the frenetic scenes of an exchange on Thursday, when the militants fought to control the crowd of protruding Palestinians surrounding two hostages. Israel therefore delayed the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners until he declared that he had received guarantees that the chaos would not have been repeated.
On Saturday, Hamas fighters who brand the rifle staged theatrical ceremonies that they meant in part to show the control of the group in Gaza, despite the death of many of his commanders.
Masked armed men set a large perimeter around both areas in which Hamas delivered the three hostages to the Red Cross. Small crowds gathered on the outskirts to look at the transfers. They did not seem to push forward while Mr. Kalderon, Mr. Bibas and Mr. Siegel were marched on stage with music.
To Gaza City, where the militants released Mr. Siegel, a voice of an encee, booming on a speaker, praising the armed wing of Hamas.
Militants dressed in black paraded Mr. Siegel, who seemed pale and lashed, through a stage for their cameras.
Before the exchange, Hamas fighters were in stage formation, a banner behind them declaring that “Nazi Zionism will not win”. They raised portraits of Hamas commanders killed at 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 attack of 7 October.
Hamas said last year that Mrs. Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli air attack, a request for Israeli officials did not confirm. The rear administrator Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, declared last week that the military were “seriously worried” for the mother and children. All the other children seized in the attack on October 7 were released during the ceased the fire of 2023.
The video of the day of the attack led by Hamas showed a shocked Mrs. Bibas who squeezed her two children to the chest-imaginative chest that became burning symbols for many Israelis of the cruelty of the assault of 7 October. The families of hostages and their supporters transported orange balloons and orange shirts consumed in honor of Bibas children, who had red hair.
After Mr. Bibas was released on Saturday, the Israeli government shared a video of him gathered with his father and sister, who embraced him and kissed him.
Kalderon was welcomed by his children in a hospital just outside Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli government. In the video he shared, Mr. Kalderon’s children can be seen crying and laughing as they embrace him. Two of his children were also kidnapped in the assault of 7 October and the fire of that year were released in the cease.
Mr. Siegel was the first American-Israeli double hostage to be freed from captivity from the last ceased the fire two weeks ago. The Israeli authorities have indicated to believe that two other American-Israeli hostages are still alive in Gaza.
To Khan Youunis, dr. Al-Homs said that many of the Palestinian prisoners liberated on Saturday lost weight and some needed support to walk after enduring difficult conditions in Israeli prisons.
“Some of them – perhaps four or five – I knew it personally, also worked in the Ministry of Health,” he said in a telephone interview. “But I struggled to recognize them.”
Among those released on Saturday there was Shadi Amouri, who was serving multiple sentences for his involvement in a 2002 suicide bombardment that killed 17 people in Israel, most of whom are out of service soldiers. Mr. Amouri, as you are from the other Palestinians published on Saturday, will be expelled in another country and it is not allowed to return to his home in the West Bank, according to the terms of the ceased the fire.
Another Palestinian freed on Saturday was Mohammad El Halabi, a humanitarian worker whose condemnation in Israel on charges of channeling funds for aid in Hamas caused a protest from groups for rights. His employer, World Vision-a well-known Christian rescue organization-said that an independent investigation has not found evidence of offenses and also the family and the lawyer of Halabi have contested the accusations.
Saturday’s exchange came when the Arab nations presented a united front against the recent appeal of President Trump for Egypt and Jordan to welcome Gazens, as part of an effort for, in the words of Mr. Trump, “clean” l ” ‘enclave.
Egypt and Jordan immediately rejected that suggestion and Saturday the two countries were reached by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
They released a joint declaration warned that any plan that encouraged the “transfer or uprooting of the Palestinians from their land” would threaten stability in the region and “undermine the chances of peace and coexistence among its people”.