BREAKINGBREAKING,
Hamas hands over Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas to the Red Cross in Gaza’s Khan Younis, while Keith Siegel is to be freed in Gaza City.
The Palestinian group Hamas has released two of three Israeli captives in the latest stage of a gradual exchange under a ceasefire deal that ended the 15-month Israeli genocide in Gaza.
French-Israeli national Ofer Kalderon and Israeli citizen Yarden Bibas were handed over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Al Jazeera TV showed on Saturday.
Both Kalderon and Bibas were seen waving to the crowd of Palestinians who watched the handover to the Red Cross.
Both captives have now arrived back in Israel.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, who was reporting from the site of the release in Khan Younis, described the handover as “well-organised” compared to the previous releases.
“The scene is quite incredible, without stampeding observed before. Usually, such handover are made under very tense circumstances,” he said.
Luciano Zaccara, a professor at Qatar University and an expert on Middle East politics, said the latest release of captives proved that Hamas is still “able to organise and manage the situation in Gaza” despite the months-long Israeli bombardment.
“Even though Israel claimed that Hamas has been destroyed, the scenes we have witnesses give you an idea that Hamas is still there,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The exchange is moving without delay and we hope that the second phase of the ceasefire will start as planned.”
American-Israeli national Keith Siegel is also expected to be released shortly in Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave.
As part of the ceasefire deal entered on January 19, Israel will free 183 Palestinian prisoners in the fourth such exchange.
Also on Saturday, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is likely to be reopened to allow seriously-injured Palestinians to finally get treatment.