The organization Hamas announced that three Israeli hostages will be released on Saturday. One of the released is Yarden Bibas, 35 years old, who was kidnapped separately from his wife and children Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, captured in the kibbutz Nir Oz. The other two people to be released are Ofer Calderón and Keith Siegel. Calderón, 54 years old, and his children were kidnapped from the same kibbutz on October 7; his children were released during a subsequent ceasefire.
Siegel, 65 years old and a U.S. citizen from North Carolina, was captured with his wife Aviva in the kibbutz Kfar Aza, while she was released in November 2023. Israeli authorities confirmed that the families were notified and that they accept the list of hostages presented by Hamas.
The Silberman-Bibas family was kidnapped during a violent attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in over 1200 deaths. By the end of November, the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, reported that Shiri and her children had died in an Israeli airstrike, although this information was not officially confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces.
