Launched French-Israeli hostage, Ofer Kalderon, who was seized through the lethal Oct. 7, 2023 assault by Hamas, gestures as he travels by helicopter to hospital, on this screengrab from a handout video obtained by Reuters on Feb. 1, 2025.
Israel Protection Forces | By way of Reuters
The ceasefire in Gaza noticed its smoothest alternate but of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, and the essential Rafah border crossing reopened two days earlier than discussions on the truce’s far tougher second section start.
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on the White Home on Tuesday, giving him an opportunity to showcase his ties to Israel’s closest ally and press his case for what ought to come subsequent after 15 months of warfare.
The ceasefire’s second section requires the discharge of remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce within the deadliest and most damaging warfare ever between Israel and Hamas. The combating might resume in early March if an settlement is not reached.
Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned he spoke Saturday night with Trump’s Center East envoy Steve Witkoff. They agreed that negotiations on the second section will start at their assembly Monday, and Witkoff later within the week will converse with the opposite mediators, Qatar and Egypt.
Hamas on Saturday freed three male hostages, and Israel launched 183 Palestinian prisoners within the fourth such alternate. One other alternate is deliberate for subsequent Saturday.
Militants handed Argentinian-Israeli Yarden Bibas and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon to Crimson Cross officers within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, whereas American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, wanting pale and skinny, was handed over in Gaza Metropolis.
All three had been taken through the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel that sparked the warfare. Eighteen hostages have now been launched because the ceasefire started on Jan. 19.
The most recent releases had been fast and orderly, in distinction to chaotic scenes on Thursday when armed militants appeared to battle to carry again a crowd. On Saturday, the militants stood in rows because the hostages walked onto a stage and waved.
Hamas has sought to indicate it stays in management in Gaza though quite a few its navy leaders have been killed.
A bus later departed Ofer Navy Jail with over two dozen Palestinian prisoners certain for the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution. Jubilant crowds cheered and hoisted the prisoners on their shoulders. Many appeared frail and skinny.
The Israeli Jail Authority mentioned all 183 prisoners set for launch had been freed. In one other signal of progress within the ceasefire, they included 111 who had been arrested after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault however who weren’t concerned in it. They’d been held with out trial and had been launched to Gaza. Seven serving life sentences had been transferred to Egypt.
Pleasure and aid, however fears for these nonetheless held
Siegel, 65, initially from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, alongside along with his spouse, Aviva, who was launched throughout a short 2023 ceasefire.
Activists who’ve been protesting weekly for the discharge of hostages in Gaza, have fun the discharge of French-Israeli hostage, Ofer Kalderon, who was seized through the lethal Oct. 7, 2023 assault by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Feb. 1, 2025.
Tomer Appelbaum | Reuters
There have been sighs of aid and cheers as kibbutz members watched Siegel’s launch.
“You possibly can see that he is misplaced numerous weight, however nonetheless he is strolling and speaking and you’ll really feel that it is nonetheless him. And one of many first issues he advised us is that he is nonetheless vegan,” mentioned Siegel’s niece, Tal Wax.
The discharge of Bibas, 35, introduced renewed consideration to the destiny of his spouse, Shiri, and their two sons, Ariel and Kfir, who had been 4 years previous and 9 months previous after they had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Kfir was the youngest of the roughly 250 individuals who had been taken captive on Oct. 7, and his plight got here to signify the helplessness and anger in Israel.
Israel expressed “grave concern” for Bibas’ spouse and kids and pleaded with negotiators to offer info. Hamas has mentioned they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, however Israel has not confirmed it.
After his launch, Bibas closed his eyes as his father, Eli, and sister Ofri hugged him and cried. “Sweetheart,” his father mentioned.
“1 / 4 of our coronary heart has returned to us,” the Bibas household mentioned in an announcement.
Kalderon, 54, was additionally captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His two kids, Erez and Sahar, had been taken alongside him and launched through the earlier ceasefire.
“I’m right here. I’m right here. I did not surrender,” Kalderon mentioned as they embraced.
There have been related scenes among the many launched Palestinians.
“Definitely, it is an indescribable feeling, and undoubtedly a blended feeling of each disappointment and pleasure, as we’ve got left our brothers in captivity,” mentioned Mohammad Kaskus, who had been sentenced to 25 years over assaults in opposition to Israelis.
Yaser Abu Hamad, arrested for involvement within the Islamic Jihad militant group in 2006, discovered that 20 members of the family together with his mom and sisters had been killed by Israeli airstrikes through the warfare. He visited their graves.
Palestinians who had been sentenced over their connection to lethal assaults in opposition to Israelis described harsh situations, beatings and different abuse in jail. The Israeli Jail Authority did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
Ceasefire brings respite to battered Gaza
The ceasefire has held for 2 weeks, permitting for a whole bunch of vehicles of help to circulate into the tiny coastal territory and for a whole bunch of 1000’s of Palestinians to return to shattered houses in northern Gaza.
And on Saturday, 50 sick and wounded Palestinian kids had been leaving Gaza for remedy by way of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt because the enclave’s sole exit opened for the primary time since Israel captured it 9 months in the past.
Throughout the ceasefire’s six-week first section, 33 Israeli hostages are to be freed in alternate for practically 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says it has acquired info from Hamas that eight of these hostages are lifeless. About 80 hostages stay in Gaza.
“We is not going to assist you to blow up this deal. We is not going to assist you to power us again into warfare or to condemn the hostages left behind to loss of life,” Naama Weinberg, cousin of deceased hostage Itay Svirsky, advised a weekly gathering in Tel Aviv, addressing the warring sides.
Israel says it’s dedicated to destroying Hamas. The militant group says it will not launch the remaining hostages with out an finish to the warfare and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
About 1,200 folks, principally civilians, had been killed within the assault that sparked the warfare. Greater than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air and floor offensive, over half ladies and kids, in line with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which does not say how most of the lifeless had been militants.
The Israeli navy says it killed over 17,000 fighters, with out offering proof. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas as a result of its fighters function in residential neighborhoods.
