The group representing the families of Israeli hostages confirmed Friday the names of three more captives whom Hamas is expected to hand over on Saturday, and there's a dual U.S.-Israeli national among them. Keith Siegel, 65, originally from North Carolina, moved to Israel four decades ago and was among those seized during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack. Hamas had earlier provided three names and Israeli officials confirmed receipt of the list, but it was the Hostages and Missing Families Forum that confirmed the identities, saying it welcomed "the joyous news regarding the expected release of Keith Siegel," along with Israeli nationals Yarden Bibas and Ofer Calderon. Siegel's wife Aviva Siegel was also taken during the attack, which saw militants kill some 1,200 people and take 251 others hostage, but she was released under a brief November 2023 ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas. Speaking to CBS News about a year after her release, Siegel said there were moments as Hamas militants forced her and her husband through tunnels under the Gaza Strip that they felt "sure we were going to die."
Hamas said on Friday it would free the father of the youngest hostages seized in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and two others including a dual U.S. citizen and a dual French citizen in the next exchange of Gaza hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas released three more hostages Saturday, including the first American to be freed under the current cease-fire deal and the father of the terror group’s youngest captive. Yarden Bibas, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, were received in Khan Younis around 8:30 a.m. local time by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been coordinating the handovers in the Gaza Strip with Hamas. Keith Siegel, a US-Israeli dual citizen from Chapel Hill, NC, was released nearly two hours later in Gaza City. “Finally, after 484 long, terrifying days and nights, full of immense worry for our father, we can breathe again,” Siegel’s family said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel. “Thank you, President Trump, for bringing our father back to us. There are now 79 hostages who are also waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. Our hope rests with you.”
