PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said that French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi are in the first group of hostages due to be freed by Hamas following a ceasefire with Israel.
Macron’s announcement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel is expected to begin on Sunday.
“Our fellow citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi are on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the first phase of the Gaza accord,” Macron said in a social media post.
“We remain mobilized without pause to ensure their return to their families,” he wrote.
The French president is set to meet with the families of the two Franco-Israeli hostages “very soon,” according to his entourage.
Yahalomi, who turned 50 in captivity, was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz kibbutz.
His 12-year-old son, abducted separately, was released in November 2023 during the first truce.
Kalderon, 54, was kidnapped along with his son and daughter from Nir Oz kibbutz. The two children were released in the November 2023 truce.
Macron says two French-Israelis among first hostages to be freed by Hamas
https://arab.news/c4w7d
Macron says two French-Israelis among first hostages to be freed by Hamas
- “Our fellow citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi are on the list of 33 hostages to be freed,” Macron said
- The French president is set to meet with the families of the two Franco-Israeli hostages “very soon“
Strikes blamed on US kills five Iran-backed fighters in Iraq
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said early Tuesday that they had targeted a US base in the region
BAGHDAD: Five Iran-backed fighters in Iraq were killed on Tuesday in strikes their groups blamed on the United States.
The Kataeb Imam Ali group said four fighters were killed in an “American aggression” at dawn against one of their positions in the Debs district of Kirkuk province in northern Iraq.
Late Tuesday, another strike killed a fighter from the Kataeb Hezbollah group in Al-Qaem area near the Iraqi-Syrian border, a source from the group told AFP.
The bombings targeted positions occupied by the Hashed Al-Shaabi, an alliance of factions integrated into Iraq’s regular army.
It also encompasses Iran-backed fighters, including the Kataeb Imam Ali and Kataeb Hezbollah groups.
Since the start of the Middle East war, bases belonging to Hashed Al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilization Forces, have been hit several times.
Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, had said it did not want to be dragged into the war, but it has not been spared.
Iran-backed groups have claimed attacks on US bases in Iraq and in the region, without specifying their targets.
At least five drones targeted on Tuesday a military base at the Baghdad International Airport, which houses a US diplomatic facility, a security source said.
One drone crashed near Iraq’s anti-terrorism forces and another ignited a fire at a depot, with no casualties reported, according to the source.
The autonomous Kurdistan region in the north, hosts US troops and has been a main target of drone attacks, but these have largely been intercepted.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said early Tuesday that they had targeted a US base in the region.
At night, the US-led coalition air defenses downed a drone that crashed between the US consulate in Kurdistan capital Irbil and the airport, which houses US and foreign troops, a Kurdish security source said.
On Monday, a drone was downed near the UAE consulate in the city.
