Hostages Yarden Bibas, Ofer Calderon, and Keith Siegel returned to Israel on Saturday morning after almost 16 months held captive in Gaza.
Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon were released from southern Gaza while US-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel, 65 was freed separately in Gaza City. Neither event featured any of the chaos of Thursday’s releases.
Video showed the moment Yarden Bibas met his father and sister at an IDF facility near Re’im after 484 days in captivity.
Yarden is seen reuniting with his father Eli and his sister Ofri. “You are sweet, your humor stayed,” Eli is heard saying to Yarden.
Yarden’s wife Shiri and sons Ariel, five, and Kfir, two, who were all abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, are still held in Gaza, and Israel has said it has “grave concerns” for their fate.
Hamas gunmen flank Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel before handing him over to the Red Cross
Keith Siegel, 65, was the oldest living American-Israeli hostage. A North Carolina native who moved to Israel as a young adult, he was abducted in his own car from Kibbutz Kfar Aza with his wife Aviva. Aviva was released after 51 days in a temporary ceasefire in November 2023 and has advocated for him since, wearing a T-shirt daily with a photo of him on it.
The Bibas family. Ariel, his baby brother, Kfir and mother, Shiri have been held captive in Gaza for nearly 16 months.
“Dad is coming!” Aviva Siegel shouts in a video the family posted on Friday after hearing the news that her husband was on the list for release. Keith’s mother died during his captivity.
Ofer Calderon, 51, was abducted with his two children from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Sahar, 17, and Erez, 12, were released during the November 2023 ceasefire after 52 days in captivity. Their mother, Hadas, was a prominent voice for mothers of the children abducted on Oct. 7 and has continued to advocate for her ex-husband, a dual French-Israeli citizen.
Released hostage Yarden Bibas meets IDF troops in the Gaza Strip on February 1, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
Ofer’s family said were “overwhelmed with joy, relief and emotion” after his release. “Today, we finally embrace Ofer, seeing and truly comprehending that he is here with us,” his family say in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters.
“We have witnessed how, through extraordinary mental strength, he survived this hell. Ofer endured months in a nightmare, and we are proud of his ability to survive and hold onto the hope of embracing his children again.”
The family added a note of support for the remaining hostages still being held by Hamas.
There are now 79 hostages remaining in Gaza, of whom at least 44 are confirmed to be dead — 36 whose deaths were announced before the current ceasefire, and eight who are among the 33 whose release was negotiated as part of the current deal.
