OAN Staff Sophia Flores
11:51 AM – Saturday, February 1, 2025
The terrorist group Hamas has released three more hostages as part of its current cease-fire deal with Israel. The hostages that returned home during this release included a U.S. – Israeli dual citizen from North Carolina, a father whose children were captured and released in a 2023 ceasefire-hostage deal, and the father of the youngest hostage.
On Saturday, Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon were released from Hamas’s hands. Two hours later, U.S.-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel was handed over by Hamas.
“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. “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.”
Siegel, who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7th, 2023 alongside his wife Aviva. She was released as part of a hostage deal that occurred in November 2023.
His release makes him the first American hostage to be released in the new 42-day truce.
Kalderon, a French-Israeli national, was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his daughter and son. His children, Sahar and Erez, were released in the November 2023 hostage swap.
French President Emmanuel Macron took to X to share his relief that Kalderon was home.
“Ofer Kalderon is free! We share the immense relief and joy of his loved ones after 483 days of unimaginable hell,” Macron wrote. “Our thoughts are with Ohad Yahalom, still in the hands of Hamas, and with his family. France is doing everything it can to secure his release without delay.”
Bibas was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife Shiri and the couple’s young children, Ariel, 5, and Kfir. Kfir was nine months old at the time he was kidnapped.
The fate of his beloved family is unknown. The terrorist group stated that Shiri and their two red-headed children died. However, the terrorist group is known for creating mental warfare by lying about hostage deaths.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has made it known that they have “grave concerns about their well-being.”
Under the current cease-fire agreement, Hamas was to free all female hostages first, followed by men over the age of 50 and those considered ill. There are 33 total hostages set to be released in the first phase of the fragile ceasefire deal. Not all of those released will be alive.
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