Truce in Gaza: a Franco-Israeli, an American-Israeli… what we know about the release of the hostages expected this Saturday

This Saturday, February 1st, three hostages from the Hamas terrorist group are to be released in exchange for 90 Palestinians. Among them is Ofer Kalderon, a Franco-Israeli, but also an American-Israeli.

Three hostages held in Gaza, including a French-Israeli, an American-Israeli, and the father of the last two Israeli children held captive, are to be released Saturday in exchange for 90 Palestinian detainees, as part of the fourth prisoner exchange since the start of the truce between Israel and Hamas. Ofer Kalderon, a Franco-Israeli, Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American, as well as the Israeli Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two children, whose fate is very uncertain, are still in Gaza, are on the list revealed Friday by the Hostage Families Forum, confirming the names published by the armed wing of Hamas.

Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Club, declared for her part that Israel would release 90 prisoners in exchange, “nine of whom are serving life sentences and 81 long-term sentences”. Fifteen hostages and hundreds of prisoners have already been released since January 19 and the entry into force of the truce agreement between Hamas and Israel, after more than 15 months of devastating war in Gaza. The hostages were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, during the attack of unprecedented scale carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel and which triggered the war.

This new exchange is to take place only two days after the third, organized on Thursday under complicated conditions, provoking anger in Israel and tarnishing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“Shocking scenes”

Two young Israeli women and an octogenarian, as well as five Thais, returned to Israel in two separate releases organized by Hamas in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, and by Islamic Jihad in Khan Younis, in the south. And while the first was staged peacefully, the other lasted several hours and turned chaotic. The hostages were handed over to the ICRC after a long stay in the heart of an excited and vociferous crowd, under the protection of hooded and armed fighters.

Read also: Israel-Hamas war: Agam Berger, 20-year-old Israeli hostage, was freed in the third exchange as part of the Gaza truce

Images showed the grimacing face of Arbel Yehud, 29, terrified for her first contact with the outside world after 482 days of detention. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the “shocking scenes” and delayed the release of Palestinian detainees planned in return by a few hours, the time to receive the “guarantee”that the next releases would be carried out “in complete safety”.

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In a rare public intervention when it is called into question, the ICRC has called for “an improvement” in the safety and dignity of the hostages during these releases.

Concern for the Bibas family

The ICRC, which advocates absolute neutrality from which it draws its effectiveness in dangerous terrain, has facilitated the transfer of all the hostages of this truce, as well as those of the first truce, at the end of November 2023. It “does not control the “The timing of the release, nor the location, nor the environment. The details and logistics are determined by the parties themselves,” the Geneva-based organization insisted.

During the six weeks of the first phase of the truce, 33 hostages, including eight deceased, are to be released in exchange for approximately 1,900 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Terrible doubt surrounds the situation of Shiri Bibas, wife of Yarden Bibas, and their two children, Kfir, 2, and Ariel, 5. Hamas had announced their deaths in 2023, which the Israeli authorities have never confirmed. But the Israeli army admitted on January 25 that it was “deeply” concerned about their fate.

In addition to these releases, the truce has allowed an influx of international aid into the Gaza Strip, which is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe.

UNRWA “continues” its operations

The entry of aid could, however, be complicated by the entry into force on Thursday of Israel's decision to sever all ties with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and to force it to close its offices in Jerusalem. “Humanitarian operations in Gaza continue” , declared in New York Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General. Israel accuses UNRWA of being “infested” by Hamas, accusations vehemently denied by the United Nations.

The truce agreement provides for the resumption of negotiations on the 16th day of its entry into force, i.e. Monday, February 3, to discuss the modalities of the second phase. This aims to free the last hostages and definitively end the war, which some members of the Israeli government oppose. The last stage is supposed to involve the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of the last deceased hostages.

The attack of October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data and including hostages announced as dead. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 79 are still being held in Gaza, at least 34 of whom are dead according to the army. The Israeli retaliatory offensive has left at least 47,460 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.