GAZA: Palestinian militant group Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages on Saturday (Feb 1), within the newest stage of a truce aimed toward ending the 15-month conflict in Gaza.
Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli twin nationwide and Yarden Bibas have been handed over to Pink Cross officers within the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis earlier than being transferred to Israel. Israeli-American Keith Siegel was handed over individually a couple of hours later on the Gaza Metropolis seaport.
Bibas is the daddy of the 2 youngest hostages, child Kfir, solely 9 months outdated when he was kidnapped by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct 7, 2023, and Ariel, who was 4 on the time of the cross-border assault.
Hamas mentioned in November 2023 that the boys and their mom Shiri, who was taken on the similar time, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike. There was no phrase on them since.
Israel is predicted to switch 182 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, Hamas mentioned.
On the newly reopened Rafah crossing on the southern border, the primary Palestinian sufferers to be allowed to depart Gaza, together with youngsters affected by most cancers and coronary heart situations, have been anticipated to cross over to Egypt in a bus supplied by the World Well being Group.
Saturday’s handover noticed not one of the chaotic scenes that overshadowed an earlier transfer on Thursday, when Hamas guards struggled to defend hostages from a surging crowd in Gaza.
But it surely was as soon as once more an event for a present of pressure by uniformed Hamas fighters who paraded within the space the place the handovers befell in an indication of their re-established dominance in Gaza regardless of the heavy losses suffered within the conflict.
Kalderon, whose two youngsters Erez and Sahar have been launched within the first hostage alternate in November 2023, and Bibas each briefly mounted a stage in Khan Younis, in entrance of a poster of Hamas figures together with Mohammad Deif, the previous army commander whose death was confirmed by Hamas this week, earlier than being handed over to the Pink Cross officers.
