Father of youngest hostage among three men to be released on Saturday, Hamas says

The Palestinian armed group Hamas has announced that it will release three hostages on Saturday, in accordance with a ceasefire agreement reached with Israel. The three hostages are 53-year-old Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 34-year-old Israeli Yarden Bibas, and 65-year-old American-Israeli Keith Siegel.

Yarden Bibas is the father of the youngest hostage, Kfir, who was only 10 months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas. His wife, Shiri, and their other son, Ariel, who is four years old, were also captured. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated that Israel has received the list of hostages. In exchange, Israel will release another group of Palestinian prisoners.

This will be the fourth exchange of hostages and prisoners since the ceasefire agreement took effect on January 19th. On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking around 251 hostages, an attack that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza, Israel’s 15-month military offensive has resulted in the deaths of 47,460 Palestinians in the region.

Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas were taken from Nir Oz by Hamas, while Keith Siegel was from Kfar Aza. Bibas's wife, Shiri, and their two children, now five-year-old Ariel and now two-year-old Kfir, were also captured, and their fate remains unclear. Their release would bring the number of hostages released under the ceasefire agreement to 18.

It is expected that 183 Palestinian prisoners will be released on Saturday. The Palestinian Prisoners Club stated that 111 of them were detained after October 7, 2023. To date, 400 Palestinian prisoners have been released, including those serving long sentences for bombings and other attacks, as well as juveniles held without charge. Most have returned to the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, while many of the most serious offenders have been deported.

The most recent exchange occurred on Thursday, indicating the fragility of the agreement. Israel was angered by the treatment of eight hostages upon their release, briefly delaying the release of prisoners. When seven of those released were freed in Khan Younis, they were swarmed by onlookers taking photos with their phones as militants led the captives to Red Cross vehicles, before being transferred to Israel. In another release in Jabalia, the eighth released hostage was brought to a scene of ruins following an Israeli airstrike, placed on a platform in a staged event, and then handed over to the Red Cross.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office later stated that it had received "commitments from the mediators regarding ensuring the safe evacuation of our hostages who have not yet been released." Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was "absolutely delighted" to see former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari released, according to a statement issued by a Damari family spokesperson.

The statement said that in a phone call with Starmer on Friday morning, Emily, who was released on January 19th, and her mother thanked the Prime Minister and all those who worked for her release. The Damari family revealed to the Prime Minister that Emily had at one point been held in a facility run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa) and was deprived of medical treatment. They called on Starmer to put "maximum pressure" on Hamas and Unrwa to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit the hostages still held in Gaza.