As part of the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel, Hamas claimed in a statement Friday that American Israeli Keith Siegelis is one of the hostages scheduled to be freed on Saturday.
Hamas has said that Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon will also be freed.
In a video released by Hamas in April, Siegel, 65, was last seen saying he was doing well while speaking directly to his family. Seigel, originally from Chapel Hall, North Carolina, was captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, raid on kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1200 people and the kidnapping of nearly 250 others.
Bibas, his wife Shiri, and their two kids—Kfir, who was nine months old at the time and would have turned two this month, and their now five-year-old son, Ariel—were all taken captive.
Unlike other child hostages, the Bibas children did not leave Gaza during a one-week ceasefire in November 2023 when 105 prisoners were freed.
During that truce, Hamas claimed that Shiri Bibas and the two children had been murdered in an Israeli airstrike; however, the Israeli military denied the reports. The Israel Defense Forces expressed concern for the family in February 2024.
The top spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, stated during a news conference, “Given the information at our disposal, we are extremely concerned and worried about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children.”
Ofer Kalderon, now 54, was abducted along with his 12-year-old son Erez and 17-year-old daughter Sahar.
November 2023 saw the release of both kids.
Jason Greenberg, Kalderon’s cousin, told NBC Boston that “having him back has been the one thing that has been the missing piece of their puzzle of recovery.”
Ilan and Shir, Siegel’s two kids, posted a photo of themselves holding hands with their mother, Aviva Siegel, who was also kidnapped on October 7 but freed a month later, shortly after Siegel’s video. There was no oxygen in the tunnel, and Keith and I almost died. I’ve been telling difficult stories about it ever since. In an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, she and other people whose loved ones were also taken said, “But I want to just tell everybody we’re not going to stop.”
In addition to Siegel, two other Americans, Edan Alexander, 20, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, are said to still be alive in Gaza.
The bodies of four Americans who were probably slain on October 7, 2023, are still being held in Gaza: Itay Chen, 19, Omer Neutra, 21, and the married couple Gadi Haggai, 73, and Judith Weinstein, 70.
In return for the three hostages on Saturday, Israel is anticipated to free another set of Palestinian inmates.