The oldest living American-Israeli hostage exited Gaza on Saturday as Hamas released three more Israelis in accordance with the terms of a ceasefire deal.
Keith Siegel, 65, was released after a seaside ceremony in Gaza City where he briefly walked across a stage and waved, a performance that Hamas has required of the hostages it has recently freed. He was wearing a hat and walked on his own, though he appeared to be supported by two Hamas terrorists as he mounted the stage and descended from it.
Viewing her husband via video for the first time since November 2023, when she was released during a previous ceasefire, Aviva Siegel exclaimed, “Here he is! He looks good!” on a video distributed by the Israeli government. She was accompanied by the couple’s son Shai, whose survival when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was unclear to her and her husband while she was a hostage.
Subsequent footage showed Keith Siegel flashing a thumbs-up sign after being turned over to Israeli troops.
Siegel was released shortly after two other hostages, Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon.
Bibas, 35, is the father of the only children who remain in Gaza and appeared in a hostage video in November 2023 that showed him responding to being told that his wife, Shiri, and sons Ariel and Kfir, had been killed. Israel has never confirmed Hamas’ allegation that the mother and young children were dead, but has said there are “grave concerns” about them and did not insist on their release prior to that of living men.
In a video that Israel released Saturday, Bibas embraced his parents upon their reunion.
Yarden Bibas, at center, reunites with his parents after being freed from Gaza after 482 days. (Screenshot from GPO video)
Kalderon, 54, was abducted with two of his children from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Sahar, 17, and Erez, 12, were released during the November 2023 ceasefire after 52 days in captivity. Israel released a video Saturday showing Kalderon, who greeted friends outside the hospital where he was taken, embracing all four of his children.
In a change, the handover process on Saturday went smoothly and contained little of the unruly crowds that had characterized other recent hostage releases. Israeli officials had threatened to delay releasing security prisoners, which it agreed to free under the ceasefire, unless Hamas guaranteed safe and orderly handovers.
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