In the third hostage exchange of the six-month Israel-Hamas ceasefire, on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, Palestinian group Hamas released three Israeli captives in exchange for the release of 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
This ceasefire halted over 470 days of genocide in Gaza, where Isreal has killed more than 46,000 Palestines — over half of whom were women and children.
In the first of two hand-offs — televised by Al-Jazeera — French-Israeli dual citizen Ofer Kalderon and Israeli citizen Yarden Bibas were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis — a southern Gaza Strip city. One hour later, American-Israel dual citizen Keith Siegel was released from northern Gaza.
After the exchange, the process to free the 183 Palestinian prisoners began. At least 73 of these prisoners were serving life sentences. According to Al-Jazeera, the first bus arrived at Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, carrying 32 Palestinians from Israel’s Ofer prison.
Of the 183 Palestinians released on Saturday, 111 were taken by Israeli forces in Gaza on or after Oct. 7, 2023 — these Palestinians were released in Gaza on Saturday.
Israel has approximately 4,500 Palestinian’s held in Israeli prisons, 310 of whom are currently held under administrative detention — meaning they were imprisoned without trial.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C. on Monday to begin negotiation efforts for the second phase of this three-phase ceasefire agreement. The second phase is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and discussions of more permanent ends to the war.
Prime Minister Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet with the newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump. Before his departure, Netanyahu told reporters he and President Trump would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis.”
President Trump has called for the transferring of Gaza’s entire population to Egypt and Jordan. Foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League rejected this plan which included “the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.”.
In a joint statement, the five countries stated, “We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners … in any form or under any circumstances or justifications.”
Since the beginning of the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has begun an intensive attack on cities in the West Bank. On Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, the Israel military blew up at least 20 buildings in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Washington Post. The Palestine Red Crescent Society confirmed that at least five people were killed by this strike and two were critically injured — among those murdered was 16-year-old Ahmad al-Sadi.
Launching just days after the ceasefire was announced, Israel has officially called these

raids on Jenin the “Operation Iron Wall” campaign. Since the beginning of the ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed at least 20 Palestinians across the occupied territories and wounded dozens more.
In addition to the attacks in Jenin, the Israeli army also carried out intensive military operations in Tulkatem city and the refugee camp for over a week, forcing Palestinians to evacuate. On Saturday, Feb. 1, Israel forces also stormed and raided multiple areas of the occupied West Bank, including the Balata camp, Nablus and the al-Ein refugee camp.
The Israeli military has also stormed the residences and arrested multiple individuals in the occupied West Bank. Since Oct. 2023, the Israeli military has killed over 880 Palestinians in the West Bank. According to Al-Jazeera, Palestine’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa described what is happening in the occupied West Bank as “a systematic effort to destroy the foundations of the Palestinian state.”