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Palestinian prisoners released as Hamas hands over three more Gaza hostages to Israel Rafah crossing opens to sick and injured Palestinians after months of closure
(about 2 hours later)
Palestinians queue to cross via Rafah border as Hamas hands three more male hostages to Israel in ceasefire deal After release of three more Israeli male hostages, Palestinian detainees and prisoners queue to cross into Egypt via Rafah crossing
Scores of sick and injured Palestinians, including wounded members of Hamas, were queueing to cross into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing as three more Israeli male civilian hostages were released to Israel as part of the continuing ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza. Scores of sick and injured Palestinians, with wounded members of Hamas expected to be among them, have been allowed to cross into Egypt as the key Rafah border crossing was reopened after the release of three more Israeli male civilian hostages.
Hamas handed the first two hostages over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning before they were received by the Israeli military a short while later. The opening of the Rafah border crossing, which was closed by Israeli forces nine months ago, took place as part of the continuing ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The Rafah crossing, long a lifeline for Palestinians, has been closed for months after Israeli forces took control of the surrounding area, with the reopening of the crossing marking a significant moment in phase one of the complex ceasefire deal. Egyptian television showed a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance pulling up to the crossing gate, and several children brought out on stretchers and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side, the first of an estimated 50 children expected to cross on Saturday.
Buses were collecting sick and wounded from Gaza hospitals for Saturday’s crossing, including children who require treatment in Egypt. The opening of Rafah for anticipated regular crossings by a set number of people, marks a highly significant moment in the complex ceasefire agreement and follows international outcry over the Israeli closure of the crossing to most medical cases for the past nine months.
A few hours later 183 Palestinians and detainees held in Israeli jails, some of whom were led out of prison in handcuffs with bracelets on their wrists with an Israeli flag saying “Eternity does not forget”. Late last week the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, called for 2,500 children to be immediately evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment after meeting US doctors who said the children were at imminent risk of death in the coming weeks.
As the first Red Cross buses arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah they were greeted by jubilant crowds. The reopening of Rafah came as Hamas released three male Israeli hostages, which also triggered the release of 183 Palestinians from Israeli jails, including individuals convicted in the Israeli courts, and detainees.
The first two Israelis to be released by Hamas included Yarden Bibas, the father of a young family, whose wife and children became poignant symbols of the hostage crisis and remain unaccounted for amid “grave concerns” for their wellbeing. Among the three released Israelis were Yarden Bibas, the father of a young family, whose wife and children became poignant symbols of the hostage crisis and remain unaccounted for amid continuing “grave concerns” in Israel for their wellbeing.
Bibas, 35, and the French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, were transferred to the Red Cross in what appeared to be a more orderly handover than the chaotic scenes that accompanied a previous release this week when released Israelis were jostled by a noisy crush. The Rafah crossing, long a lifeline for Palestinians, has been closed since Israeli forces took control of the surrounding area in May 2024.
The two men were briefly led on to a stage with a Hamas backdrop that included a large poster featuring the dead Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Calderon waved and held a “decision of release” certificate, given to him by Hamas. The first crossings took place after buses were seen collecting the sick and wounded from Gaza hospitals.
Another hostage, the American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, was handed over to the Red Cross at the port in Gaza City a little later. Both had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 that sparked the war. The handover of the three Israeli hostages, Bibas, 35, the joint Israeli-US citizen Keith Siegel, 65, and the joint Israeli-French citizen Ofer Kalederon, 54, triggered the release of 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza held in Israeli jails.
Later three busloads of Palestinian detainees arrived in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. It marked the first time any of the 1,000 detainees from Gaza that Israel has agreed to free during phase one of the deal have been released.
The handover the Israeli hostages in two locations – Khan Younis and at Gaza City’s port – was far more orderly than a chaotic release earlier this week that briefly threatened to upset the terms of the ceasefire deal.
The truce, which began on 19 January, is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group. The fragile deal has held for nearly two weeks, halting the fighting and allowing for increased aid to flow into the tiny coastal territory.The truce, which began on 19 January, is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group. The fragile deal has held for nearly two weeks, halting the fighting and allowing for increased aid to flow into the tiny coastal territory.
On Saturday the first Palestinians are expected to travel from Gaza to Egypt through the newly reopened Rafah crossing. It will be opened initially for 50 injured militants and 50 wounded civilians, along with the people escorting them, with a further 100 people, most likely students, probably allowed through on humanitarian grounds.
Rafah had been the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed it in May. An EU civilian mission was deployed on Friday to prepare for the reopening.
The reopening would mark another key step in the first phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.
Seventeen of the 33 hostages due for release in the first stage of the ceasefire have now been released in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.Seventeen of the 33 hostages due for release in the first stage of the ceasefire have now been released in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Negotiations are due to start by Tuesday on agreements for the release of more than 60 remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in a second phase of the deal.Negotiations are due to start by Tuesday on agreements for the release of more than 60 remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in a second phase of the deal.
The release of Yarden Bibas without his family represents a painful moment for the large numbers of Israelis and other supporters around the world who have long campaigned for the Bibas family’s release. The release of Yarden Bibas without his family, however, represents a painful moment for the large numbers of Israelis and other supporters around the world who have long campaigned for the Bibas family’s release.
Video of Shiri Bibas holding on to her children as she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Oz kibbutz became an enduring image of the 7 October 2023 attacks, with her son, Kfir, just nine months old when he was abducted.Video of Shiri Bibas holding on to her children as she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Oz kibbutz became an enduring image of the 7 October 2023 attacks, with her son, Kfir, just nine months old when he was abducted.
Earlier this week Israel demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of Shiri Bibas and her children after the Palestinian group released a breakdown, without providing names, of the numbers of hostages who were alive or dead in the group of 33 so-called humanitarian cases slated for release in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. On Saturday the Israeli coordinator for hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, once again asked mediators to seek information on the missing members of the Bibas family who Hamas has said were killed in an Israeli strike in 2023.
Yarden Bibas is believed to have been held separately from his family. Photos taken during his abduction appeared to show him wounded. “We have been searching for them for a long time, tracing their tracks and investigating what happened to them. Even in these very days and at these very hours, we are again demanding information from the mediators about their condition,” said Hirsch.
Like Bibas, Kalderon was also captured from kibbutz Nir Oz. His two children and ex-wife, Hadas, were also taken but were freed during the 2023 ceasefire. After the latest releases, Israel and Hamas are due next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. However, the war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from kibbutz Kfar Aza, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was released during the 2023 ceasefire and has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and other hostages. The children allowed to cross Rafah with their families are the first in what are meant to be regular evacuations of Palestinians through the crossing for treatment abroad.
The dozens of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel on Saturday include people serving lengthy and life sentences. Over the past 15 months, Israel’s campaign against Hamas in retaliation for the militants’ 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel has decimated Gaza’s health sector, leaving most of its hospitals out of operation even as more than 110,000 Palestinians were wounded by Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel and Hamas are due next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the latest ceasefire. A key far-right partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
Hamas says it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.