- Title: Relative of Israeli hostage Kalderon relieved but worried on eve of his release
- Date: 31st January 2025
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 31, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) COUSIN OF KALDERON’S WIFE, OLIVIER JAOUI, SAYING: “For the first time, she (Hadas Kalderon, wife of Ofer) speaks about happiness, about her optimism. She told us, 'We are waiting for the moment when the father will keep in his arms his children.' They are happy, and now, they are very, very worried, hoping tha
- Embargoed: 14th February 2025 15:18
- Keywords: Hadas Kalderon Hamas Nir Oz Ofer Kalderon
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA006778331012025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Relatives of Israeli-French hostage Ofer Kalderon felt a mix of relief, happiness and worry as Hamas said on Friday (January 31) he would be freed more than a year after he was seized in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, as part of the next exchange of Gaza hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Kalderon is expected to be freed along with the father of the youngest hostages held by the group, Yarden Bibas, and a dual U.S. citizen, Keith Siegel.
"Hadas (Kalderon's wife) and the four children are very, very happy to know that Ofer will be really released tomorrow and to have the proof, we hope so, that he's alive," Hadas Kalderon's cousin, Olivier Jaoui, told Reuters in Paris. "So relief and happiness today, but also some worries and also some sadness for other hostages."
The three men will be handed over on Saturday (February 1), said Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the armed wing of the Palestinian militant group, in a post on his Telegram channel.
Ofer Kalderon's two children Erez and Sahar, abducted alongside him, were freed in the first hostage exchange.
"He arrived in Gaza, he met his children. Perhaps he doesn't even know that they have been freed," said Jaoui.
"He has not seen his wife, his other son who was also in Nir Oz. Perhaps he thinks that they are dead."
On Thursday (January 30), Hamas freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages in Gaza while Israel freed 110 Palestinian prisoners after delaying the process in anger at the swarming crowds engulfing one of the hostage handover points.
Under the ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of fighting, 33 hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israel.
Fifteen hostages, including the five Thai workers, and 400 prisoners have so far been exchanged, and Hamas has told Israel that eight of the 33 are now dead.
Ninety Palestinian prisoners, including nine serving life sentences and 81 serving long-term sentences, are to be swapped for the three Israelis on Saturday, Hamas' prisoner information office said.
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