JERUSALEM, Jan 31, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Hamas and Israel will conduct their next swap
of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with three Israelis including the father of the youngest
hostages to be freed in return for 90 people held in Israeli jails.

After holding them hostage for 15 months, militants in Gaza began releasing captives as the
first phase of a ceasefire with Israel took effect on January 19.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far handed over 15 hostages to the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many
of them women and minors.

Israeli campaign group, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, named the captives to be
released on Saturday as Yarden Bibas, Keith Seigel, who also has US citizenship, and Ofer
Kalderon, who also holds French nationality.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed it had received the names of the
three hostages to be released.

In exchange, Israel will free 90 prisoners, nine of whom are serving life sentences, the
Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said.

During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which started the Gaza war, militants abducted
Siegel from kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Kalderon and Bibas from kibbutz Nir Oz.

Militants took a total of 251 people hostage that day. Of those, 79 still remain in Gaza,
including at least 34 the military says are dead.

Those seized include the wife and two children of Bibas, whom Hamas has declared dead,
although Israeli officials have not confirmed that.

The two Bibas boys -- Kfir, the youngest hostage, whose second birthday fell earlier this
month, and his older brother Ariel whose fifth birthday passed in August last year -- have
become symbols of the suffering of the hostages held in Gaza.

The children were taken along with their mother, Shiri.

Hamas says the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023.

"Our Yarden is supposed to return tomorrow and we are so excited but Shiri and the children
still haven't returned," the Bibas family said on Instagram.

"We have such mixed emotions and we are facing extremely complex days."

- Chaotic scenes -

After the swap takes place on Saturday, Gaza's key Rafah border crossing with Egypt is set to
reopen, a Hamas official and a source with knowledge of discussions told AFP.

"The mediators informed Hamas of Israel's approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow,
Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange," the Hamas official
said, with the source explaining evacuations of the injured would take place at the crossing "as
per the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement".

The Rafah crossing was a vital entry point for humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza before the
Israeli military seized the Palestinian side in May.

The arrangements for hostage handovers in Gaza have sometimes been chaotic, particularly for
the most recent handover in the southern city of Khan Yunis, which produced scenes that the
Israeli prime minister condemned as "shocking".

Woman hostage Arbel Yehud was visibly distressed as masked gunmen struggled to clear a
path for her through crowds of spectators desperate to witness her handover, television
images showed.

Israel briefly delayed Thursday's prisoner release in protest and the ICRC urged all parties to
improve security.

"The security of these operations must be assured, and we urge for improvements in the
future," ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said.

Later on Thursday, Israeli authorities released 110 immates from Ofer prison, including high-
profile former militant commander Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, who was given a hero's welcome in
the West Bank city of Ramallah.

- 'Where's Dad?' –

Also freed was Hussein Nasser, who received little attention from the crowd but was at the
centre of his daughters' world.

"Where's Dad?" Raghda Nasser asked tearfully as she moved through the crowd, an AFP
correspondent reported.

Raghda, 21, hugged her father in the flesh for the first time Thursday night. Her mother was
pregnant with her when he was jailed 22 years ago.

"I just visited him behind the glass in Israeli prisons. I cannot express my feelings," Raghda
said.

The fragile ceasefire hinges on the release of a total of 33 hostages in exchange for around
1,900 people, mostly Palestinians, in Israeli jails.

Negotiations for a second phase of the deal are set to start on Monday, according to a timeline
provided by an Israeli official.

This phase would cover the release of the remaining captives and would include discussions
on a more permanent end to the war.

During the current phase, more than 462,000 war-displaced Palestinians have returned to the
north of Gaza since Israel restored access on Monday, according to UN figures. Many have
gone back to homes that have been completely destroyed.