U.S. citizen Keith Siegel, 65, is to be freed from Gaza on Saturday, after being held in captivity by Hamas terrorists for nearly 500 days.
Siegel’s release was announced Friday, after Hamas handed over the list of hostages that was expected to be freed in the next group, as part of the release of 33 hostages in the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Israel. Only 18 of those to be released are still alive, however, and Hamas did not reveal precisely which ones. Ten living Israeli hostages have been freed thus far, including nine women (both civilians and soldiers), and one elderly man, plus five Thai workers.
The other two hostages to be released are Israelis Ofer Calderon, 54, and Yarden Bibas, 35. Bibas is the husband of fellow hostage Shiri Bibas, and the father of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, two children who were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and who are the last remaining children in captivity. Their fate is still unclear.
In addition to Siegel, there are six other U.S. citizens among the hostages, at least two of whom are believed to be alive.
The first phase of the ceasefire is expected to last six weeks. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in the region attempting to ensure that the deal proceeds to a second phase, despite numerous violations by Hamas and mistrust among the parties.
Israel has said that it will walk away from the deal if Hamas and the Red Cross continue to allow hostages to be abused by mobs of Palestinians as they are released, which happened in the last release on Wednesday.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
