JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The family of Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas expressed relief on Saturday after he was released along with two other hostages by Hamas but said that the family’s home remained incomplete.
Yarden, his wife, Shiri and children Ariel, now aged 5, and Kfir, now 2, were seized from their home near Gaza, among the roughly 250 people abducted by Palestinian militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and taken into the coastal enclave.
Shiri and the children were not among those released.
Baby Kfir was only nine-months-old when he was kidnapped. Footage of the 2023 assault showed a terrified Shiri, holding her two children tightly, being taken away by militants.
“A quarter of our heart has returned to us after 15 long months. There are no words to describe the relief of holding Yarden in our hands, embracing him, and hearing his voice,” the Bibas family said in statement.
“Yarden has returned home, but the home remains incomplete.”
Footage released by the Israeli army showed Yarden at a military facility on Saturday reuniting with his father and sister and embracing them both.
Israeli-American Keith Siegel and Israeli-French Ofer Calderon were also released. Israel also freed 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees who had been held in Israeli jails.
Hamas said in late 2023 that Shiri and the children had been killed by Israeli bombardments on Gaza, part of the massive military response to the October 2023 attack.
Hamas is releasing hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and detention as part of a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
Since Jan. 13, Israeli hostages, including dual nationals, and five Thais have been freed. Another 20 Israeli hostages are to be released in the initial stage of the truce. Hamas has said eight of those are dead.
More than 100 hostages were freed in a week-long 2023 truce.
Towards the end of that truce Hamas put out a brief video purportedly showing Yarden Bibas being told that his wife and children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Israeli officials have expressed concern over the fate of Shiri and the children but has not said they had been killed.
“We continue with hope and the call for the return of Shiri, the children, and all the hostages. Please continue to make their voices heard and emphasize the urgency of their return,” the family said on Saturday.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, writing by Angus McDowall and Alexander Cornwell, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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