Ofer Calderon: 'I promised I'd come back. I didn't give up'

Tears, cheers and tight embraces as 3 released hostages reunited with relatives

Yarden Bibas met by dad, sister amid grave concerns for his wife, kids; Ofer Calderon reunited with 4 kids: ‘It’s over, daddy. Everyone’s ok’; Keith Siegel’s wife: ‘Here he is! He looks good!’

Israeli hostages Ofer Calderon, Yarden Bibas, and Keith Siegel reunite with their loved ones upon their return to Israel, February 1, 2025. (IDF/Omer Meron/Oz Shechter/GPO)

There were tears, screams of joy and tight embraces as three men abducted from their communities on October 7, 2023, and held in the Gaza Strip were reunited with relatives on Saturday, 484 days after they were taken hostage.

Soon after he was released, Yarden Bibas was met at the military facility near Re’im by his father Eli and sister Ofri, their muted reunion weighted with grave worry for his still-hostage wife and young boys.

“We love you,” Eli could be heard saying in the video footage as the three tightly embraced. “Oh, are you sweet. Keep your sense of humor. We love you.”

Bibas, his wife Shiri Silberman Bibas, and children Ariel and Kfir were all abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, though he was taken separately from the others. Kfir was 10 months old and Ariel was 4 at the time.

Yarden Bibas embraces his father Eli and his sister Ofri at an IDF facility near Re’im after 484 days in Hamas captivity.(Screen capture/Israel Defense Forces)

On Friday, the Bibas family released a statement on the “complex” situation they faced. Hamas has claimed that Shiri and the two boys were killed in captivity. Israel has not confirmed this claim, but has expressed “grave concern” for their fate.

Fears for the fate of the Bibas trio have grown, as they were not among the first hostages released by Hamas. Living women and children were supposed to be freed first under the deal, followed by injured and infirm men and men over 50.

In a statement issued shortly after Bibas’s release, the family asked the nation for privacy, noting that he “bravely survived captivity and returned to an unbearable reality.”

“Yarden has returned home, but the home remains incomplete,” the family said. “At this time, we ask: Protect Yarden, Protect his soul. Please respect his privacy and give him the space he needs so that his body and soul can begin to recover.”

Separately, Israel’s hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch demanded that the ceasefire deal’s international brokers — the US, Qatar and Egypt — intervene for information on Silberman Bibas and her children.

“The Bibas family… has been living in constant fear for their lives for a long time… We continue to demand information about their condition from the mediators,” he said in a statement.

Israel has reportedly demanded that Hamas clarify their condition, but is not known to have received any response.

Freed hostage Nili Margalit revealed in December 2023 that she was with Bibas when Hamas terrorists told him his family had been killed.

Yarden, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)

An image of Bibas from the helicopter taking him to a hospital in central Israel showed him holding up a sign thanking the people of Israel for their support.

“I thank all the people of Israel for their support and help. I heard from my family that you fought for me,” he wrote.

“I want to say thank you very much. I appreciate it very much. It is not taken for granted,” he wrote, adding “Happy birthday, Grandpa.”

His mother, who was waiting at the hospital to be reunited with him, told Channel 12: “Now we have one, we are waiting for the other three.”

Yarden Bibas, flanked by his sister and father, is seen on an IDF helicopter on his way to a hospital in central Israel on February 1, 2025 (Israel Defense Force)

Ofer Calderon was also taken to the facility near Re’im, but was reunited with his four children at Sheba Hospital in central Israel.

Video showed the emotional release as he met his children Erez, Sahar,  Rotem and Gaya. He appeared in good spirits, joking around and laughing with his kids, two of whom had also survived captivity and were freed in November 2023 in an earlier deal.

Released hostage Ofer Calderon reunites with his children Rotem, Gaya, Erez and Sahar on February 1, 2025. Erez and Sahar were also abducted on October 7, 2023 and were freed in November 2023. (Ma’ayon Taof / GPO)

“Daddy, daddy!” the children said as they ran to him and hugged him.

“It’s over,” said Sahar, who had been held hostage in Gaza, as had her brother Erez.

“Everyone is ok, daddy,” Gaya said as she hugged her father. “We are all ok.”

“We’re going on a bike ride for a whole week,” Ofer promised the children. “I promised I would come back. I didn’t give up.”

An earlier photo released by the Israel Defense Forces showed him on a helicopter, holding a whiteboard on which he had drawn a heart.

Calderon, a dual Israel-French national, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 with Sahar and Erez, then aged 16 and 12, who were both freed during the previous ceasefire.

Freed hostage Ofer Calderon on a helicopter on his way to hospital on February 1, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)

On his way to meet the children, Calderon asked to stop the vehicle he was traveling in so that he could greet his friends who had gathered at the medical center to welcome him.

“I love all of you,” he shouted at his friends, waving his hands cheerfully.

Footage also showed him joshing with his brother.

Calderon’s brother Nissan, hugging him: “I love you!”

Calderon: “I had to go to Gaza for you to tell me that?”

Video published online by a prominent journalist showed Calderon’s elderly parents dancing and embracing with other celebrants.

Keith Siegel was the last of the three to be released, set free by the Hamas terror group at a separate location from Bibas and Calderon.

Siegel, originally from North Carolina, was taken captive with his wife from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

Released hostage Keith Siegel reunites with his family at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) on February 1, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Aviva Siegel was freed during the previous ceasefire in November 2023. Keith’s 97-year-old mother died in December, without seeing him a final time.

“Here he is, here he is, here he is! He looks good!” Aviva shouted as she watched the release, reacting with delight along with their son Shai.

At Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Siegel was reunited with his daughters Ilan, Gal and Shir, Footage released by the government showed the three singing “Here comes our dad, he’s returned to us,” as he walks through the door before they rush to embrace him.

Aviva said after she was freed that she had thought her son Shai was killed on October 7 when he went out to fight the terrorists, and only found out that he had survived when she was released. It was unclear if Keith knew in advance of his return that his son was alive.

The freed hostages are among 251 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, amid rampant acts of brutality and overt targeting of civilians.

Seventy-six of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas has so far released 18 hostages — civilians, soldiers and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began on January 19. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.

At a rally and protest for the hostages outside Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, relatives of hostages expressed worries that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government would sabotage the deal before the rest of the hostages were released.

“If it hadn’t been for [US] President [Donald] Trump, they would not be here,” Yifat Zailer, a cousin of Calderon, told the crowd. “This is a stain on Netanyahu’s legacy that will not wash.”

Left to right: Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel and Ofer Calderon are freed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip on February 1, 2025 (Abdel Kareem/Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)

Eight hostages have been rescued by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.

The second stage of the three-part deal is supposed to result in the release of all remaining living hostages not included in the first stage — mainly men of fighting age — but the sides must still hash out the number and identities of Palestinian prisoners to be let go as part of the deal.

The talks on the next stage are slated to begin no later than February 3, which is 16 days after the deal went into effect. Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet in the White House on February 4.

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