KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) – Hamas militants released three male hostages being held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday while Israel began releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as part of a ceasefire deal that has halted 15 months of intense fighting in the Palestinian enclave.
Militants handed Yarden Bibas and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon to Red Cross officials in the southern city of Khan Younis, while American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, looking pale and thin, was released to the Red Cross later Saturday morning in Gaza City to the north.
Shortly after Siegel arrived in Israel, a bus departed Ofer Military Prison with some 32 prisoners bound for the West Bank. According to Palestinian authorities, a total of 183 Palestinian prisoners are to be released Saturday.
