In exchange, 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released from Israeli jails, including some serving life sentences. Among those to be released are Mohammad El Halabi, the former manager of operations for charity group World Vision in Gaza, who was convicted by Israel in 2022 of funneling funds to Hamas. Halabi pleaded not guilty, and World Vision strongly denied his involvement. Also expected to be released is Shadi Amouri, who's serving a life sentence for a bombing that killed 17 Israelis in 2002. Amouri is set to be deported to a neighboring country.
Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages Saturday, the latest in a series of exchanges agreed to in a deal aimed at ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Yarden Bibas, 35, were handed over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis before being returned to Israel. Israeli-American Keith Siegel, 65, was released hours later at the Gaza City seaport.
Hamas terrorists seized Bibas, his wife Shiri, and their two young children, Ariel, four, and Kfir, ten months, on October 7, and the family’s fate quickly became an international symbol of Hamas’s cruelty. Hamas has said Shiri and the two boys are dead, but Israel has not confirmed their status. Israel is demanding Hamas provide an update on their condition as concerns mount about the three hostages. Women and children are supposed to be released first under the cease-fire deal, and the Bibas family members were all on Israel’s list of hostages to be let go in the agreement’s first phase.
