Aleks Phillips
BBC News
Reporting fromLondon
Alice Cuddy
International reporter
Reporting fromTel Aviv
Watch: Three more Israeli hostages released by Hamas
Three Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza were released from captivity on Saturday, in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Yarden Bibas, 34, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Keith Siegel, 65, were handed over to the Red Cross – the latest hostages to be released as part of a ceasefire deal struck last month.
Palestinian prisoners were taken in buses to Gaza and the West Bank, many of them coming from the nearby Ofer prison.
The tone of the exchange sat in stark contrast to Thursday’s chaotic handover, during which surging crowds pressed in on hostages, eliciting concern for their safety and prompting Israel to delay that day’s release of Palestinian prisoners.
Getty Images
Yarden Bibas, a hostage held in Gaza, waves from a stage in Khan Younis
Saturday’s release was more orderly, but retained the presentational elements that sought to project that Hamas remains the governing force in Gaza.
Lines of armed fighters kept crowds at bay, while the men who were released were flanked by more armed and masked fighters. A banner behind them bore the images of killed Hamas leaders.
Officials from the Red Cross signed certificates of release for Mr Kalderon and Mr Bibas, who were then made to hold them as they waved to the crowd in Khan Younis.
Inside the operation retrieving Israel’s hostagesAs Mr Siegel, a US-Israeli dual national, appeared on stage in Gaza City, a crowd gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv erupted into cheers, some chanting: “He’s a hero, he’s a hero.” One woman described feeling “pure happiness”.
Getty Images
Red Cross officials signed certificates of release for two of the hostages
Mr Siegel’s wife, Aviva, said “there’s no one happier than me” as she was filmed getting into a car to go and meet her husband.
The family of French-Israeli Mr Kalderon said in a statement that they were “overwhelmed with joy, relief, and emotion after 484 long and difficult days of unbearable waiting”.
They added that he “endured months in a nightmare”, holding onto the “hope of embracing his children again”.
But others, like Liz Domsky, had mixed feelings. “They all need to come home,” she said while watching the proceedings from Hostages Square.
Mr Siege
Read More