In their fourth exchange of the Gaza ceasefire, Hamas and Israel will exchange 183 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons for the release of three Israelis, including the father of the two youngest captives, on Saturday.
After holding 15 hostages since their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Gaza militants have now freed them once the truce went into effect on January 19.
According to the captives and Missing Families Forum campaign group, Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, who is also a US citizen, and Ofer Kalderon, who is also French, are the Israeli captives scheduled to be released on Saturday.
According to the Palestinian detainees’ Club advocacy group, Israel will release 183 detainees in exchange, more than twice as many as the 90 who were first announced.
Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian inmates since the ceasefire started, many of them were women and children.
Hamas militants abducted 251 captives during their strike on Israel, which sparked the conflict in Gaza.At least 34 of them, according to the Israeli military, are dead, and 79 of them are still in Gaza.
Yarden Bibas’s wife and two kids were among those taken. Israeli officials have not verified Hamas’ claim that the three are dead.
The two Bibas sons, Ariel, who turned five in August, and Kfir, the youngest captive, whose second birthday was in January, have come to represent the suffering that hostages in Gaza had to face.
Shiri Bibas, the children’s mother, was also taken.
