TEL AVIV, Israel (WSAV) -- Hamas handed over Israeli hostages Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon Saturday, with American Israeli Keith Siegel freed later in the latest stage of a truce aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza.
The Israeli military confirmed it had received Kalderon, a French Israeli dual national, and Bibas after the two were handed over to a Red Cross official in the Southern Gaza city of Kahn Younis.
Bibas is the father of the two youngest hostages, baby Kfir, only 9 months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas-led gunmen on October 7, 2023, and Ariel, who was 4 years old at the time of the cross-border attack.
Hamas said in November 2023 that the boys and their mother Shiri, who was taken at the same time, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. There has been no word on them since.
Bibas hugged his father and sister for the first time after 484 days in Hamas captivity as he arrived at an Israeli Army facility.
Kalderon held his four children and his brother, reassuring them he was fine after he was released.
Kalderon was freed 484 days after he was kidnapped with two of his four children from their Southern Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz.
His two teenage children, Sahar, who was 16 years old at the time, and Erez, who was 12 years old, were released in the first deal between Israel and Hamas in late 2023.
Kalderon arrived at Sheba Hospital in Central Israel in a helicopter and, upon meeting his children, he made them laugh when he told his older son Rotem that he escaped thanks to finding a better hiding spot during the Palestinian militants' attack.
The initial six-week ceasefire, agreed with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the United States has so far stayed on track despite a number of incidents that have led both sides to accuse the other of violating the deal.