Hamas is set to release three male hostages on Feb. 1, including the father of the Bibas children who are being held and one of the three Americans in captivity.
Yarden Bibas, 35; Keith Siegel, 65, a dual citizen; and Ofer Kalderon, 54, are the next people in the original group of 33 Israeli hostages scheduled for return in the Israel–Hamas cease-fire’s first six-week phase.
News that Yarden Bibas was being released dimmed hopes that his wife and children were still alive in Gaza. Hamas has claimed the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed that, but Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said last week that the military was “extremely concerned” about the family’s welfare.
Yarden Bibas was believed to have been held separately from his wife and children. Video of the family’s abduction showed Shiri Bibas swaddling her two redheaded boys, Ariel and Kfir, in a blanket as armed men kidnapped them.
Kfir at 9 months was the youngest hostage taken. His photo with his then-toothless smile became iconic to the movement to free the hostages.
Terrorists took the family from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7 attack. Photos of the abduction appeared to show Yarden Bibas had been wounded.
Young and middle-aged men were not included in the first-phase release list unless they were sick or wounded.
Hamas indicated 8 of the 33 are dead, with their bodies scheduled to be returned toward the end of the first phase process.
Siegel, a native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, moved to Israel when he was 21. He was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the hardest-hit communities, with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was freed during the November 2023 cease-fire. Keith Siegel is an occupational therapist.
Kalderon, a French-Israeli hostage and a carpenter, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his children, Sahar and Erez, and his ex-wife Hadas. She and the two children were released in November 2023.
Three other Israeli hostages were released on Jan. 30, plus five Thais among the 31 Thai farmworkers taken hostage on Oct. 7.
The Israelis released Thursday include IDF soldier Agam Berger, 20, a comrade of four other young female soldiers released on Jan. 25; and civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80. Yehud and Moses were both kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Yehud was originally to have been released on Jan. 25, and Israel delayed the opening of crossings from south to north Gaza when she was not. Israeli media reported she had been held alone for her entire captivity. Terrorists murdered her brother Dolev Yehud in the Oct. 7 attack, and her partner Ariel Cunio remains a hostage, his status unknown.
Berger and her four IDF comrades were part of a surveillance team based at Kibbutz Nahal Oz to monitor the border only 500 meters away.
Another member of their team, Ori Megidish, was rescued early in the war by the IDF. A seventh member, Noa Marciano, was held in UNRWA’s Shifa Hospital and murdered there, according to the IDF, which recovered her body.
The Thai nationals released Thursday include Surasak Rumnao, 32; Watchara Sriaoun, 33; Sathian Suwannakham, 35; Pongsak Thaenna, 36; and Bannwat Saethao, 27.
During the November 2023 exchange, 23 Thais were released. On Oct. 7, 2023, 46 Thais were killed, including two whose bodies were taken into Gaza, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Moses and Yehud, before being turned over to the Red Cross, were led through a howling mob of gun-waving masked Hamas terrorists in Khan Yunis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas, which has turned the hostages’ release into humiliating rallies, against further such displays.
“During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes. We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages,” he said in an official statement posted on social media Thursday.
“And I will add: Whoever dares to harm our hostages – will pay the price.”
Information emerged about the hostages’ condition, what they'd endured, and their recovery prospects.
The IDF surveillance soldiers observed Jewish traditions while being held underground. They refused to eat leavened bread on Passover and attempted to fast on Yom Kippur despite suffering from malnutrition. Berger, forced to cook for her captors, said she wouldn’t work on the Sabbath.
Yehud suffered from severe malnutrition and endured cruel treatment from her captors, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Gadi Moses told his family he spent his captivity focusing on the day he would return home to rebuild his community. “I never broke, I never cried. I just waited for the moment I would be free,” he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Ilana Gritzewsky, 31, who survived 55 days in Gaza captivity before her release in November 2023, said in an interview she still has lingering health issues. She hasn’t regained lost weight. She’s prediabetic. She lost hearing in one ear. She suffers pain from a broken pelvis and jaw and burns sustained from motorcycle exhaust during her abduction.
Her boyfriend, captured with her at Kibbutz Nir Oz, still has not been released.
“I’m still not able to really take care of myself,” she said.
Doctors say those held with others are faring better mentally than those who were kept alone.
Avichai Brodutch, whose wife and three children were kidnapped from Kfar Aza, said his family’s physical issues were quickly treated. They had returned thin and covered with lice.
But it’s left a lasting imprint on their well-being, and they relive Oct. 7 each time new news comes out, he said. It’s been most difficult for his wife, who cared for their three children and a neighbor’s 3-year-old child during captivity.
“It’s going to take a long time to repair the wounds of the soul,” he said.
