Three Israeli hostages, including dual US citizen, set for release in Gaza on Saturday

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Friday it would free the father of the youngest hostages seized in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and two others including a dual U.S. citizen in the next exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Yarden Bibas is the father of baby Kfir, only nine months old when he was kidnapped, and Ariel, who was four at the time of the cross-border attack.

There was no word on the fate of Kfir and Ariel, or on their mother Shiri, who was taken at the same time. Hamas said in late 2023 that they had been killed by Israeli bombardment, in the early months of the Gaza war.

Video of their capture began circulating soon after they were seized. It showed a terrified Shiri clutching her small children in a blanket as they were bundled into captivity surrounded by militant assailants.

The father, Yarden, 34 at the time of the attack, was also abducted and a clip circulated showing him bleeding from a head injury suffered from hammer blows.

Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife Aviva, was seen in a video released by Hamas last year. His wife was released in the first hostage-for-prisoner exchange in November 2023.

Ofer Kalderon’s two children Erez and Sahar, abducted alongside him, were also released in the first exchange.

On Thursday, Hamas freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages in Gaza while Israel freed 110 Palestinian prisoners after delaying the process in anger at the swarming crowds engulfing one of the hostage handover points.

Under the ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of fighting, 33 hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israel.

Fifteen hostages, including the five Thai workers, and 400 prisoners have so far been exchanged. Ninety Palestinian prisoners, including nine serving life sentences and 81 serving long-term sentences, are to be swapped for the three Israelis on Saturday, Hamas’ prisoner information office said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn criticism in Israel for not having sealed a hostage deal earlier in the war after the security failure that enabled Hamas-led militants to burst across the border and storm nearby Israeli communities.

But there has also been opposition to the current deal, which some critics in Israel have said leaves the fate of most of the hostages in the balance and Hamas still standing as Gaza’s dominant entity.

Hamas, which Israel has vowed to obliterate, retains a strong presence in Gaza despite more than 15 months of heavy bombardment from the Middle East’s most advanced military and the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar.

The truce has enabled a surge in international humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians suffering dire supply shortages.

But the fragile calm could be jeopardised if Israel prevents operations in Gaza by the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA after banning it from contact with Israel, UNRWA communications chief Juliette Touma told a briefing in Geneva on Friday. For now, the agency’s work in Gaza was continuing, she said.

PALESTINIAN PRISONERS INCLUDE MINORS

The Palestinian prisoners and detainees include 30 minors and some convicted members of Palestinian groups responsible for deadly attacks that have killed dozens of people in Israel.

Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were abducted in the Hamas attack in Israel, the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust. Among the dead and abducted were dozens of Thai agricultural workers.

Israel’s military response has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and laid waste to the enclave of 2.3 million people, who face severe shortages of medicine, fuel and food.

Israel has killed several leaders of Hamas and another ally of Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, in parallel conflicts.

Around half the hostages were released in November 2023 during the only previous truce, and others have been recovered dead or alive during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

More talks on the implementation of the second stage of the deal, due to begin by Feb. 4, are meant to open the way to the release of over 60 other hostages, including men of military age, and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.

If that succeeds, a formal end to the war could follow along with talks on the mammoth challenge of reconstructing Gaza.

Source: Reuters
--Agencies