Scores of sick and injured Palestinians, including wounded members of Hamas, were queueing to cross into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing as three more Israeli male civilian hostages were released to Israel as part of the continuing ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas handed the first two hostages over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning before they were received by the Israeli military a short while later.
The Rafah crossing, long a lifeline for Palestinians, has been closed for months after Israeli forces took control of the surrounding area, with the reopening of the crossing marking a significant moment in phase one of the complex ceasefire deal.
Buses were collecting sick and wounded from Gaza hospitals for Saturday’s crossing, including children who require treatment in Egypt.
A few hours later 183 Palestinians and detainees held in Israeli jails, some of whom were led out of prison in handcuffs with bracelets on their wrists with an Israeli flag saying “Eternity does not forget”.
As the first Red Cross buses arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah they were greeted by jubilant crowds.
The first two Israelis to be released by Hamas included Yarden Bibas, the father of a young family, whose wife and children became poignant symbols of the hostage crisis and remain unaccounted for amid “grave concerns” for their wellbeing.
Bibas, 35, and the French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, were transferred to the Red Cross in what appeared to be a more orderly handover than the chaotic scenes that accompanied a previous release this week when released Israelis were jostled by a noisy crush.
The two men were briefly led on to a stage with a Hamas backdrop that included a large poster featuring the dead Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Calderon waved and held a “decision of release” certificate, given to him by Hamas.
Another hostage, the American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, was handed over to the Red Cross at the port in Gaza City a little later. Both had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 that sparked the war.
The truce, which began on 19 January, is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group. The fragile deal has held for nearly two weeks, halting the fighting and allowing for increased aid to flow into the tiny coastal territory.
On Saturday the first Palestinians are expected to travel from Gaza to Egypt through the newly reopened Rafah crossing. It will be opened initially for 50 injured militants and 50 wounded civilians, along with the people escorting them, with a further 100 people, most likely students, probably allowed through on humanitarian grounds.
Rafah had been the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed it in May. An EU civilian mission was deployed on Friday to prepare for the reopening.
The reopening would mark another key step in the first phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.
Seventeen of the 33 hostages due for release in the first stage of the ceasefire have now been released in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Negotiations are due to start by Tuesday on agreements for the release of more than 60 remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in a second phase of the deal.
The release of Yarden Bibas without his family represents a painful moment for the large numbers of Israelis and other supporters around the world who have long campaigned for the Bibas family’s release.
Video of Shiri Bibas holding on to her children as she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Oz kibbutz became an enduring image of the 7 October 2023 attacks, with her son, Kfir, just nine months old when he was abducted.
Earlier this week Israel demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of Shiri Bibas and her children after the Palestinian group released a breakdown, without providing names, of the numbers of hostages who were alive or dead in the group of 33 so-called humanitarian cases slated for release in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Yarden Bibas is believed to have been held separately from his family. Photos taken during his abduction appeared to show him wounded.
Like Bibas, Kalderon was also captured from kibbutz Nir Oz. His two children and ex-wife, Hadas, were also taken but were freed during the 2023 ceasefire.
Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from kibbutz Kfar Aza, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was released during the 2023 ceasefire and has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and other hostages.
The dozens of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel on Saturday include people serving lengthy and life sentences.
Israel and Hamas are due next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the latest ceasefire. A key far-right partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
Hamas says it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
