The Rafah border crossing, the main entry and exit point for the Palestinian territory, reopened on Saturday for the first time since May 2024 to permit Palestinian patients to cross over from Gaza to Egypt to receive medical treatment, live television footage showed, according to news agencies.
Meanwhile, Hamas released three more hostages and Israel freed a group of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday as part of an ongoing ceasefire deal, in a quick process that was a stark contrast to a chaotic and drawn-out transfer earlier last week.
Hamas released Yarden Bibas, 35, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, in a highly performative ceremony in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and then Keith Siegel, 65, an American Israeli, in a separate ceremony in Gaza City. The freed hostages were headed to hospitals in Israel, where they reunited with their families and received medical care after 15 months in captivity.
Israelis watched live broadcasts of the releases from what has become known as “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, cheering as the three were handed over. Relatives expressed relief and joy, mixed with sadness that their loved ones had spent so much time in captivity.
“This moment came 484 days too late,” Ifat Kalderon, Kalderon’s cousin, said in an interview with Kan News. “But it has finally happened.”
Israel was releasing about 180 Palestinians from custody, according to the Palestinian prisoners’ commission. Buses containing freed Palestinian prisoners reached the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to video from the scene, where a crowd of people greeted them. The exchange was the fourth in a multiphase cease-fire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to last month. Under the deal, Hamas pledged to free at least 33 of the 97 remaining hostages over the first six weeks in exchange for over 1,500 Palestinians jailed by Israel.
On Thursday, Hamas freed three Israelis and five Thais in exchange for more than 100 Palestinians. But the armed group struggled to control crowds of people trying to catch a glimpse of the hostages, angering Israel and delaying a prisoner release.
Hamas tightly controlled both hostage releases on Saturday. At the two handover sites, Hamas fighters carrying rifles cleared out a wide area around the hostages. Only a small crowd could be seen at the margins. The two exchanges took a few minutes each. Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed over 45,000 people, according to local health officials. – NYT
