Hamas releases two Israeli hostages, third expected soon
Photo: Hamas releases two Israeli hostages, plans to hand over another on February 1 (Getty Images)
Hamas has already released two Israeli hostages on Saturday, February 1. A third hostage is expected to be handed over later, according to The Guardian and Reuters.
"Three more Israelis – all male civilian hostages – were being released on Saturday to Israel as part of the continuing ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza," writes The Guardian.
Hamas handed over the first two hostages to the Red Cross shortly before they were received by Israeli forces sometime later.
In turn, Palestinian authorities claim that Israel has agreed to release dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as part of the fourth round of exchanges under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The released hostages—35-year-old Yarden Bibas and 54-year-old Franco-Israeli Ofer Calderon—were transferred to the Red Cross "in a more orderly handover than the chaotic scenes that accompanied previous releases earlier this week."
"Bibas is the father of the two youngest hostages, baby Kfir, only 9 months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct. 7, 2023, and Ariel, who was 4 at the time of the cross-border attack," writes Reuters.
Hamas stated in November 2023 that the boys and their mother, Shiri, who was taken at the same time, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Since then, no information about them has surfaced.
When the two men were released, "a second Red Cross convoy was en route to pick up Israel-American Keith Siegel from a second location." He is the third hostage scheduled for exchange on February 1.
Agreement between Israel and Hamas
Hamas has approved a deal with Israel to release hostages in the Gaza Strip and implement a ceasefire.
Several Israeli hostages have already been freed under this agreement. On January 19, Hamas released three Israeli hostages—Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher. On January 25, Hamas handed over four Israeli female hostages to the Red Cross, namely Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Elbag.
In turn, for example, on January 30, Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners. However, earlier that same day, Israel had paused the release of Palestinian prisoners, citing chaos during the transfer of Israeli hostages to the Red Cross as the reason for the decision.
