Sawt Falasteen - Hamas, Israel set for fourth Gaza ceasefire swap

Since the truce took effect on January 19, Gaza militants have released 15 hostages after holding them in captivity since their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli hostages to be freed on Saturday are Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, who also holds US citizenship, and Ofer Kalderon, who also has French nationality, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.

In return, Israel will release 183 prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said, more than double the initially reported figure of 90.

Since the ceasefire began, Israel has freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and minors.

During their attack on Israel, which ignited the Gaza war, Hamas militants took 251 hostages. Of those, 79 remain in Gaza, including at least 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Among those taken were the wife and two children of Yarden Bibas. Hamas has declared the three dead, but Israeli officials have not confirmed this.

The two Bibas boys -- Kfir, the youngest hostage, whose second birthday fell in January, and his older brother Ariel, who turned five in August -- have become symbols of the ordeal endured by hostages in Gaza.

The children were taken along with their mother, Shiri Bibas.

- 'Where are they?'-

Hamas claims the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023.

"Hamas, where are the Bibas babies?" the Israeli foreign ministry posted on X on Friday.

"483 days have passed. Where are they?"

The Bibas family meanwhile wrote on Instagram: "Our Yarden is supposed to return tomorrow, and we are so excited, but Shiri and the children still haven't come home."

Saturday's swap is the second exchange this week and the fourth since the ceasefire began.

The hostage handovers have sometimes been chaotic, particularly during the most recent exchange in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Thursday, where scenes of disorder prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the situation as "shocking".

One hostage, Arbel Yehud, was visibly distressed as masked gunmen struggled to clear a path for her through crowds of spectators eager to witness her release, as seen in television footage.

She was one of eight hostages freed on Thursday.

In protest, Israel briefly delayed its own prisoner release that day, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged all parties to ensure safer conditions for future exchanges.

"The security of these operations must be assured, and we urge improvements in the future," ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said.

Later on Thursday, Israeli authorities released 110 inmates from Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, including high-profile former militant commander Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, who received a hero's welcome in Ramallah.

"The situation of the prisoners is very difficult, and we hope for their urgent release," Zubeidi said at a gathering in Ramallah on Friday.

- Rafah to reopen-

Upon seeing her brother among those freed on Thursday, Maha al-Barai, a Palestinian woman from the West Bank, said: "It is an indescribable joy that words cannot capture, and my body trembles with it."

Following Saturday's exchange, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is expected to reopen to allow the evacuation of injured Palestinians, sources familiar with the discussions told AFP.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday that the 27-member bloc had deployed a monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing.

"It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care," she wrote on X.

The fragile ceasefire, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, hinges on the release during the first 42-day phase of a total of 33 hostages, in exchange for approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Negotiations for a second phase of the deal are set to begin on Monday, according to a timeline provided by an Israeli official.

This next phase would address the release of the remaining captives and include discussions on a more permanent end to the war.

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST