Two hostages, the Franco-Israeli Ofer Kalderon and the Israeli Yarden Bibas, were released by Hamas this Saturday, February 1, as part of the fourth exchange since the start of the break between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement. A third hostage, the Israeli-American Keith Siegel, must also be released soon. In return, Israel will release 183 Palestinian detainees.
Fifteen hostages – ten Israelis and five Thai – and 400 Palestinian prisoners have already found freedom since the entry into force, on January 19, of this truce after more than 15 months of a war in the Gaza Strip.
Info to remember
⇒ OFER KALDERON and Yarden BIBAS LIBERÉE and Israel hostages
⇒ A third hostage must be released in the coming hours
⇒ Next reopening of the crossing point between Gaza and Egypt
OFERS OFERS KALDERON and Yarden BIBAS LIBERÉEs and in Israel
The Franco-Israeli Ofer Kalderon and the Israeli Yarden Bibas, released these Amedi morning by Hamas after 484 days of captivity, were given by the ICRC to the Israeli army and returned to Israel, according to a military statement. The two men, who were retained in the Gaza Strip, were “escorted by (members of the special forces) to Israeli territory,” said the army. A third hostage must be released in the coming hours.
A Liberated Palestinian detainee pleads for the “urgent” release of all prisoners
Zakaria al-Zoubeidi, the figure of the Palestinian armed struggle, told AFP in the aftermath of his release from prison hoped that his people be “released from the Israeli Bastille”, in reference to the famous Parisian prison taken by the revolutionaries of 1789. “The situation of prisoners is very difficult and we hope for their urgent release,” he said on the sidelines of a reception near Ramallah, in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Welcomed Thursday evening as a hero in Ramallah, Zakaria al-Zoubeidi is part of a group of 110 Palestinian detainees released Thursday by Israel, in exchange for the release of three Israeli hostages detained in Gaza since October 7, 2023, as part of Truce between Israel and Hamas entered into force on January 19. Five Thai hostages selected in Gaza was also released on Thursday.
Next reopening from the crossing point between Gaza and Egypt
The crossing point between Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and Egypt must open this Saturday after the exchange of hostages and prisoners between Israel and Hamas, a source of the source said on Friday at AFP Hamas and another close to negotiations.
The Rafah terminal was essential for the entry of humanitarian aid to Palestinian territory, before the Israeli army took control of the Palestinian side, in May 2024, in the midst of war in Gaza. He has since been closed, which has earned Israel of strong convictions of the international community and humanitarian organizations.
“The mediators informed Hamas of Israel’s decision to open Rafah’s crossing point of time,” said Hamas manager. The second source, close to the discussions, said that this decision would evacuate the wounded, “under the cease-fire agreement” entered into force on January 19 in Gaza. No source contacted by AFP, nor the Israeli authorities, spoke of the question of the transition from humanitarian aid by this terminal.