Israel and Hamas Exchange 3 Hostages and More Than 180 Prisoners

Hamas gunmen released three more hostages and Israel freed more than 180 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, quickly conducting the latest exchange in a tense cease-fire deal and avoiding the chaos that marked a drawn-out transfer earlier this week.

Hamas released two of the hostages, Yarden Bibas, 35, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, in a highly theatrical ceremony in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The group then released the third hostage, Keith Siegel, a 65-year-old American Israeli, in a separate ceremony in Gaza City. The three, escorted by Red Cross workers, then headed to hospitals in Israel, where they reunited with their families after 15 months in captivity.

In exchange, Israel said it had released 183 Palestinian prisoners. Buses carrying the freed Palestinians reached the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to video from the scene, where a crowd of people greeted them. The Red Cross also brought a group of freed prisoners to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, according to a doctor there and a Hamas-linked Palestinian prisoner information center.

Israelis watched live broadcasts of the hostages being released from what has become known as “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, cheering as the three were handed over. Relatives expressed relief and joy, as well as sadness that their family members had spent so much time in captivity.

“This moment came 484 days too late,” Ifat Kalderon, Mr. Kalderon’s cousin, said in an interview with Kan News, the Israeli public broadcaster. “But it has finally happened.”

In Khan Younis, some Gazans cried and others were joyous when the freed prisoners arrived at the European Hospital, according to Saleh al-Homs, the doctor there.

Some of those released had been serving life sentences in Israel after being convicted of involvement in deadly attacks. Israelis view these prisoners as murderous terrorists and have lamented their release. But Palestinians often view them as freedom fighters against Israel.

“They were happy to see the prisoners return,” Dr. al-Homs said, “but saddened by the heavy price that was paid.”

More than 45,000 Gazans have been killed in Israel’s devastating bombing and ground campaign, according to Gazan health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. In the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that set off the war, about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were abducted, according to Israeli officials.

The exchange on Saturday was the fourth in a multiphase cease-fire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to last month. Under the deal, Hamas pledged to free at least 33 of the 97 remaining hostages over the first six weeks, in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinians jailed by Israel. More than 30 of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead. Mediators hope the deal will lead to the end of the war, which has left wide swaths of Gaza in ruins.

As the hostage and prisoner exchange took place, another milestone in the cease-fire deal was reached, as sick and wounded people were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah border crossing for the first time in nearly nine months.

Reopening the crossing, a major conduit connecting Gaza to the outside world, was a central piece of the cease-fire agreement. The crossing closed after Israel invaded Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, in May.

But officials in the Gaza Health Ministry said that only 50 out of the thousands of ill and injured people in need of treatment outside Gaza would be able to cross on Saturday. Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, a World Health Organization official, said 12,000 to 14,000 people require treatment outside Gaza for severe injuries and chronic illnesses.

The rapid release of the three hostages on Saturday contrasted with the frenzied scenes of an exchange on Thursday, when militants struggled to control crowds of jeering Palestinians who surrounded two hostages. Israel then delayed releasing more than 100 Palestinian prisoners until it said it had received guarantees that the chaos would not be repeated.

On Saturday, rifle-wielding Hamas fighters staged theatrical ceremonies intended in part to showcase the group’s control in Gaza, despite the death of many of its commanders.

Masked gunmen set a wide perimeter around both of the areas where Hamas delivered the three hostages to the Red Cross. Small crowds gathered on the outskirts to watch the handoffs. They did not appear to press forward as Mr. Kalderon, Mr. Bibas and Mr. Siegel were marched onto stages with music blasting.

In Gaza City, where militants released Mr. Siegel, an emcee’s voice boomed over a loudspeaker, praising Hamas’s armed wing.

Black-clad militants paraded Mr. Siegel, looking pale and gaunt, across a stage for their cameras.

Before the exchange, Hamas fighters stood in formation onstage, a banner behind them declaring that “Nazi Zionism Will Not Win.” They held up portraits of Hamas commanders killed in the war.

Hamas released Mr. Bibas without his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel, who was 4, and Kfir, who was 9 months old when they were kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack.

Hamas said last year that Ms. Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, a claim Israeli officials have not confirmed. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said last week that the military was “gravely concerned” for the mother and children. All the other children seized in the Oct. 7 attack were released during the 2023 cease-fire.

Video from the day of the Hamas-led attack showed a distraught Ms. Bibas clutching her two children to her chest — images that became searing symbols for many Israelis of the cruelty of the Oct. 7 assault. Hostage families and their supporters have carried orange balloons and worn orange shirts in honor of the Bibas children, who had red hair.

After Mr. Bibas was released on Saturday, the Israeli government shared a video of him being reunited with his father and sister, who hugged him and kissed him.

Mr. Kalderon was met by his children in a hospital just outside Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli government. In video that it shared, Mr. Kalderon’s children can be seen weeping and laughing as they embrace him. Two of his children were also abducted in the Oct. 7 assault and were released in that year’s cease-fire.

Mr. Siegel was the first dual American-Israeli hostage to be released from captivity since the latest cease-fire went into effect two weeks ago. Israeli authorities have indicated that they believe that two other American-Israeli hostages are still alive in Gaza.

In Khan Younis, Dr. al-Homs said many of the Palestinian prisoners freed on Saturday had lost weight, and a few needed support to walk after enduring tough conditions in Israeli jails.

“Some of them — maybe four or five — I knew personally, they also worked in the health ministry,” he said in a phone interview. “But I struggled to recognize them.”

Among those released on Saturday was Shadi Amouri, who was serving multiple life sentences for his involvement in a 2002 suicide bombing that killed 17 people in Israel, most of them off-duty soldiers. Mr. Amouri, like six of the other Palestinians released on Saturday, will be expelled to another country and not allowed to return to his home in the West Bank, according to the cease-fire terms.

Another Palestinian freed on Saturday was Mohammad El Halabi, a humanitarian worker whose conviction in Israel on charges of funneling aid funds to Hamas prompted an outcry from rights groups. His employer, World Vision — a well-known Christian relief organization — said an independent investigation had found no evidence of wrongdoing, and Mr. Halabi’s family and lawyer also disputed the accusations.

The exchange on Saturday came as Arab nations presented a united front against President Trump’s recent call for Egypt and Jordan to take in Gazans, as part of an effort to, in Mr. Trump’s words, “clean out” the enclave.

Egypt and Jordan immediately spurned that suggestion and on Saturday the two countries were joined by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

They issued a joint statement warning that any plan that encouraged the “transfer or uprooting of Palestinians from their land” would threaten stability in the region and “undermine the chances of peace and coexistence among its people.”