Three more hostages have been released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon have arrived back in Israel after they were released to the Red Cross by militants in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning.
Another hostage, American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, was handed over to the Red Cross at a different location – Gaza City to the north – later on Saturday.
Hours later, 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released in the exchange. Among them, 150 arrived in Gaza while 32 got off a bus in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Out of these, 72 prisoners were held before the 7 October attack, with 18 serving life sentences. The remaining 111 were detained in Gaza after the 7 October attack.
"I feel joy despite the journey of pain and hardship that we lived," said Ali Al-Barghouti, who was serving two life sentences in an Israeli jail.
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.
A total of 33 Israeli hostages are expected to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners during the truce's initial six weeks.
Next week Israel and Hamas are due 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.
Earlier on Saturday, militants released Mr Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Mr Kalderon, 54, to the Red Cross in Khan Younis after each climbed on a stage and waved to onlookers.
Both had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 that sparked the war.
Armed Hamas militants formed a line leading to the stage after chaotic crowds surrounded hostages during a handover on Thursday, angering Israel.
The family of Mr Kalderon said they were "overwhelmed with joy, relief and emotion" after his release by Hamas.
Mr Kalderon was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz on 7 October, along with his daughter Sahar and son Erez. The children were released in November 2023 during a temporary ceasefire.
“Today, we finally embrace Ofer, seeing and truly comprehending that he is here with us,” his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters.
"We have witnessed how, through extraordinary mental strength, he survived this hell. Ofer endured months in a nightmare, and we are proud of his ability to survive and hold onto the hope of embracing his children again.”
The family added a note of support for the remaining hostages still being held by Hamas, saying: "In the midst of this emotional moment, we must remember all the hostages who remain behind. We have no right to stop until all 79 hostages return home – whether for rehabilitation or for burial."
The second released hostage, Mr Bibas, is the father of baby Kfir – the youngest hostage at only nine months old when he was kidnapped on 7 October – and Ariel, who was four at the time of the cross-border attack. Mr Bibas’s wife, Shiri, the mother of the two children, was also taken at the same time.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir remain unaccounted for amid concerns over their wellbeing, with the release of Mr Bibas marking a painful moment for the large numbers of Israelis and other supporters around the world who have long campaigned for the whole family’s release.
Video footage of Shiri holding on to her children as she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Oz kibbutz became an enduring image of the Hamas attack.
Under the latest ceasefire agreement, living women and children were supposed to be freed first, but Ariel and Kfir were the only children being held who were not released in a previous week-long truce in November 2023. Hamas says that Shiri and her two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the conflict.
Israel has not confirmed that claim, but last week the military said there were “grave concerns” about what has happened to them.
Israel says it has received information from Hamas that eight of those hostages were either killed during Hamas’s 7 October attack or have since died in captivity.
There were sighs of relief and cheers in the living room where members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza watched Hamas militants hand over hostage Keith Siegel to the Red Cross.
Mr Siegel, an American-Israeli from North Carolina, was captured from the communal farming village by Hamas militants on 7 October 2023.
His neighbours gathered anxiously in front of the television as they watched footage of Mr Siegel, looking thin, emerging from a vehicle and walking through a crowd in Gaza city, flanked by Hamas militants.
Many of those in the room were family friends. They applauded upon seeing Mr Siegel's face. Some teared up.
He is one of the highest-profile hostages, now a household name in Israel after his wife Aviva Siegel, also captured in the Hamas attack, mounted a public campaign to bring him home after her own release from captivity in November 2023.
Also on Saturday, wounded Palestinians are expected to be allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing. It had been the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed it in May.
A European Union civilian mission was deployed on Friday to prepare for the reopening of the crossing.
The reopening would mark another key step in the first phase of the ceasefire, which alongside the exchange of detainees calls for the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.
Additional reporting by agencies
