American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 2 other hostages published in Gaza in the Third Exchange of Israel-Ham Pile

Tel Aviv – American-Israeli Dual State Citizen Keith Siegel was among the three Published hostages Militants in warming up the devastated belt Gaza on Saturday, more than 15 months after Hamas captured them. Siegel was released in the city of Gazi for about two hours after the Israelis Yarden Bibas and Ofer Calderon were released in the southern city of Khan Younis. The Israeli army was confirmed by Siegel’s transfer from militants to the Red Cross staff.

All three soils were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza first before being transferred to Israeli forces. Both handover was made fast on Saturday and without Chaos seen during the previous exchange of third prisonerwho angry Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delayed the appropriate Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners for several hours.

Israel was expected to release about 90 Palestinians from their prison on Saturday in exchange for the publication of three hostages, as prescribed in the fire interruption agreement that entered into force on January 19th.

Keith Siegel is 1. American released during a new trial

Originally from North Carolina, Siegel moved to Israel four decades ago. He was among the seven American citizens taken as hostages in Gaza during the Hamas Terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, which caused the militants to kill about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 other trapped.

The Israeli military attack on Hamas was killed by more than 47,400 people, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Territory, left the entire district and caused a humanitarian disaster by changing almost the entire endlave population and destroyed its infrastructure.

It is believed that at least two of the six US hostages are still in Gaza Živa-Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey. Four other Americans are believed to have been killed in captivity.

Siegel’s wife Aviva also hostages took Hamas militants on October 7th, but was released in a earlier replacement for hostages and prisoners in November 2023.

In an interview with CBS News approximately one year after publication, Said Aviva Siegel There were moments as Hamas militants forced her and her husband through the tunnels under the gauze belt that they felt “sure we would die.”

Yarden Bibas, 35, husband is Shiri Bibaswhich during the terrorist attack was taken from their kibbut with their two young children Ariel and Kfir. Hamas claimed Just a few weeks after the attack that Shiri and her two children were killed in Israeli bombing in Gaza.

In a TV interview, about a year later, then Minister Benny Gantz said that officials knew what had happened to the Bibas family, but said he could not provide details. The fact that, under the conditions of an agreement on the tribute, Hamas released women and children before men’s hostages, suggested that the rest of the Yarden Bibas family was really dead.

Ofer Calderon, 54, was among five members of his family who were taken away by Hamas militants from their kibbut near the border with Gaza on October 7, 2023. they were released During the ceasefire in November that year, but two of his relatives were killed.

What did the interruption of fire achieve and what follows?

Hamas is expected to release a total of 33 Israeli hostages during the first, six -week phase of the agreement on a statement and release of hostages, which entered into force on January 19th. After playing on Saturday, 18 has been released so far. With each edition of Israeli hostages, dozens of Palestinians were released from Israeli prison, and about 30 were released for every hostage that returned to Israel.

The first phase was to see all Israeli women, children and men’s hostages over 50 years released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, except for the dramatic increased flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza and partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from a territory.

16th day of the tribute, which would be on Monday, negotiations to establish steps for the second phase should start, according to the Outline of the Agreement, which has shared with CBS News a high Hamas official.

There were a few moments when the fragile agreement seemed to fall apart, including when Arbel Yehoud hostage was not released because Israel said she should have been in one of the first exchange. Fast negotiations led to the dispute resolving, and Yehoud was among those who had released militants in Gaza in a third exchange on Thursday.

“Every job that takes two or three months to complete the war is a bad job, because it can lower the rails at any time, and at any time any of the sides can accuse another violations,” Israeli analyst and former former negotiator Gershon Baskin he told CBS News on Friday.

“We have already had mutual accusations of violation. Currently, both sides are interested in doing it at the end of 42 days,” Baskin said.

Baskin, who has a great deal of negotiation experience with Hamas, warned that “you cannot separate the two parties further” on the eve of the expected negotiations on the second phase of the agreement.

“What we hear from the Israeli side is that they will not end the war or withdraw from Gaza, and what we hear from Hamas is that there is no agreement if he does not end the war and do not bring about the Israeli withdrawal,” he said.

But Baskin added that the new Trump administration in the United States is likely to play an integral role in determining the way the negotiations actually go through.

“I think it’s all on the shoulders of Trump,” Baskin told CBS News. “If Trump is determined that this will happen, Netanyahu can’t go against him. Netanyahu may try to create some kind of provocation, which will lead Hamas to break the truce, in which case Israel will tell Americans,” they have broken and now we have to do so to return to war. ‘If Trump says yes, then that’s the end.