Hamas on Friday announced the names of three hostages — including an American citizen — whom it said it would release this weekend as part of its cease-fire with Israel to end the war in Gaza, an agreement that has now held for nearly two weeks.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the group’s armed wing, named the three as Yarden Bibas, 35, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Keith Siegel, 65, an American-Israeli. Israel is slated to release about 90 Palestinian prisoners this weekend in exchange for the three men, according to a Hamas-linked prisoners’ information center.
The three were abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel when Hamas and its allies killed roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostage, according to the Israeli authorities, setting off the war in Gaza. Israel’s subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has lasted for over a year and killed more than 45,000 people, according to local health officials.
In a multiphase cease-fire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to this month, 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.
About 10 Israeli captives have been freed so far, in additional to five Thai workers who were taken hostage in the October 2023 attack while working in Israeli villages near the Gaza border. Israel has released more than 300 Palestinian prisoners, including many who were serving life sentences for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis.
For many Israelis, the abduction of Mr. Bibas’s family has become emblematic of the cruelty of the Hamas-led attack. Militants also abducted his wife, Shiri Bibas, and their two children, Ariel, who was 4, and Kfir, who was 9 months old.
Hamas later said that Ms. Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israeli officials have not publicly confirmed that assertion, but have said that they are gravely concerned for the fate of the three captives.
Mr. Siegel was taken hostage from his home in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the Gaza border. His wife, Aviva Siegel, was held captive with him until late November 2023, when she was one of about 105 hostages released as part of a weeklong cease-fire deal.
Shir Siegel, his daughter, shared a video on Instagram showing her embracing her mother after receiving the news on Friday. “Dad’s coming back, Dad’s on the list,” Aviva Siegel says, choking up.
Mr. Kalderon, a French-Israeli dual citizen, was taken captive when Palestinian militants raided his hometown, Nir Oz. His two children, Erez and Sahar, were freed in the November 2023 truce.
Shortly after her release, Sahar described being afraid of her Hamas captors — and also of being killed in Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment of Gaza. She was 16 at the time.
“What about my father, who has been left behind?” she told The New York Times. “I ask of everyone who sees this: Please, stop this war; get all the hostages out.”
Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting.
