Hamas set to release three more Israeli hostages today

Exchange includes father of baby Kfir Bibas, whose fate is unclear after being taken on 7 October, and 90 Palestinians

- TOM WATLING

The next three people to be released from Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas include the father of the youngest hostage and a dual US national.

A spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing said that Yarden Bibas, 35, Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, will be released in the next exchange, expected today. Ninety Palestinians, including nine serving life sentences and 81 serving long-term sentences, are to be released in return.

Under the ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of conflict, 33 hostages held by the Palestinian militants in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, are detained by Israel without charge. Fifteen hostages, including the five Thai workers, and 400 Palestinians have so far been exchanged.

The war was triggered by an attack by Hamas inside Israel on 7 October 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken captive. Israel's retaliatory offensive inside Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry, and laid waste to the territory home to 2.3 million people, who face severe shortages of medicine, fuel and food.