Tel Aviv, Israel
Cnn
–
Hamas published three Israeli captivity in two orderly transfer ceremonies on Saturday that was marked with chaotic scenes earlier this week.
After 484 days in Gaza, Keith Siegel, Yarden Bibas and Ocier Kalderon returned to Israeli soil.
Going down from a military helicopter just outside Tel Aviv, Kalderon, 54 – who also holds French citizenship – stopped with friends who had gathered outside the Shiba hospital , smiling and crying: “I love you!” In an embrace in tears in a hospital room, his four children were crying by pulling it and caressing his hair.
“It’s over, dad,” said her daughter. “Now you are with us.”
In exchange, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, 18 of which served perpetuity sentences. The majority had been detained in Gaza since October 7 and had no public accusation against them.
And for the first time since it was captured by Israeli forces in May 2024, the crucial crossing of Rafah between Gaza and Egypt opened to allow a group of Palestinian civilians, mainly children, to be evacuated for medical treatment.
This is the fourth exchange of hostages since a ceasefire entered into force on January 19. Under an agreement signed in Qatar last month, negotiations to start a second phase should start on Monday.
There are still 79 people left on October 7, 2023 in Gaza. Only 20 of them should be released during this truce phase, eight of which have died.
Siegel, 65, who lived in Israel for a long time, is the first American released since the ceasefire that started on January 19. In the middle of the rubble of the port of Gaza City, it appeared fragile while militants walked to a car. He briefly praised a scene that had been installed. His wife Aviva, looking at a flow of his release in Gaza, exclaimed: “Here it is, there is, Keith!” As she kissed their son Shai.
Bibas children have become among the most important hostages detained by Hamas. His son Kfir was only nine months old when he was removed, the youngest hostage taken on October 7, 2023. KFIR, his brother Ariel and their mother Shiri have not been seen since they were caught. Hamas said in November 2023 that they had been killed in an Israeli air strike. Israel has never confirmed their death.
The meeting of Yarden Bibas with his sister Ofri and Father Eli were definitely darker. Bringing together at the Re’im military base in southern Israel, the three were held in a deep embrace and cried.
“There are no words to describe the relief of Yarden’s outfit in our hands, kiss her and hear his voice,” the Bibas family said in a press release, adding that they “continue with Hope ”for the return of his wife and sons.
The release of the three men on Saturday was particularly heavy in Israel due to the disorderly scenes that surrounded the release of two Israeli and five Thai hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on Thursday. Thousands of Palestinians shaken up the two Israelis while they were escorted to the Red Cross vehicles.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded insurance of the intermediaries who negotiated the ceasefire that the scenes would not be repeated.
The message seems to have been received. We have Bright Saturday Morning, Masked Militants from Hamas’ Qassam Brigades Took to Stages Adorned With Anti-Israel Banners, Honoring Their Fallen Military Commander Muhammad Al-Masri, Better Known as Muhammad al-Deif, Whose Assassination by Israel Last July Was Ack-Oil Hamas this week.
Representatives of the International Committee for the Red Cross have signed Liberation documents provided by Hamas activists, and the hostages were briefly paraded on stage and lets make the crowd before being taken to be transferred to the Israeli army.
The release of Palestinian prisoners from the Off prison in Israel in the occupied West Bank also caused jubilation to crowds that have gathered for their release in Ramallah. Huge crowds have invaded a bus from the Red Cross while prisoners released draped in Keffiyehs floated in the arms of the supporters.
Among the prisoners published was Mohammad El-Halabi, director of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a humanitarian organization based in the United States. El-Halabi was arrested in 2016, then found guilty of having diverted money from humanitarian projects to the Hamas military wing. World Vision denied allegations at the time and said the legal process was unfair.
After his release on Saturday, El-Halabi told CNN that he had lost 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of weight in detention since October 7.
“The food was not even sufficient for a small child – it was deliberately inadequate. The quality was also terrible … There was a famine inside the prison, “he told CNN, adding that dozens of prisoners passed out every day due to malnutrition.
“Thank goodness, I got out of prison,” he said.
A number of people released were immediately transferred to Ramallah hospitals because of their state of health, according to the Palestinian prisoners’ media office.
“Hamas received the message from Israel through Qatar to avoid the chaos we attended last Thursday,” said Gershon Baskin, an Israeli veteran negotiator who is often in contact with Palestinian colleagues, in a statement. “Hamas can be able to make a strong demonstration of their control, but the inhabitants of Gaza attended the destruction all around them and hold the manager of Hamas, with Israel of course.”
“There is no military victory over Hamas, which should be clear for everyone. They are not winners in this war. We have all lost, ”added Bashkin.
Abeer Salman, Dana Karni, Tim Lister, Mohammed al-Sawalhi, Eugenia Yosef and Khader Al-Za’anoun, journalist at Wafa, the official Palestinian press agency, contributed to the reports.