Three Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza by Palestinian militants on Saturday, in the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month.
American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, Russian-Israeli Alexandre Troufanov and Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn were released in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, around 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET). They were seen exiting vehicles surrounded by militants, who ushered the hostages on stage, where the captives addressed the crowd.
The men appeared to be in better health than the three hostages released the previous week, whose condition drew condemnation from Israeli officials.
Israel is expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners later Saturday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Friday, 333 of whom were arrested in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. It will be the largest number of Palestinian prisoners released during the exchanges so far.
A crowd of armed militants gathered in Gaza ahead of the release, which took place close to the house of slain former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israel in October. Images showed masked fighters carrying weapons and gathering around a stage with flags and images depicting Sinwar and other militant leaders.
“No migration except to Jerusalem,” read a banner festooning the stage, in an apparent rebuke to US President Donald Trump and his plans for a mass displacement of Palestinians from the enclave.
Trump has said the US “will take over” Gaza to build a “Riviera of the Middle East,” an idea that has been widely condemned by Palestinian militants, international rights groups, Arab nations, and the UN.
All three men released on Saturday were kidnapped from the kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attack, and had been held captive for almost 500 days.
After the Red Cross hands over the hostages to the Israeli military, they will be transferred out of Gaza to the Reim military base, where they will be reunited with their families, according to an Israeli source. They will then be taken to Ichilov and Sheba hospitals in central Israel.
Troufanov was 27 years old when he was kidnapped by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, along with his grandmother, Irena Tati, his mother Lena Troufanov and girlfriend Sapir Cohen, who were all released in a previous deal. His father Vitaly was killed during the attack.
Dekel-Chen was 35 years old when he was kidnapped by Hamas while trying to defend the kibbutz from attackers. His wife Avital was pregnant with their third child during the attack, and gave birth to Dekel-Chen’s daughter while he was in captivity. She turned one in December.
Horn, now 46, was also captured by Hamas with his brother Eitan, who remains in captivity.
The Gazan militants have now released a total of 19 Israeli hostages as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, of a total of 33 promised at staggered intervals during this stage. Eight of those 33 are dead, according to the Israeli government.
Saturday’s release follows a dispute this week between Hamas and Israel over the Gaza ceasefire, after Hamas said it wouldn’t release Israeli hostages Saturday as planned due to alleged Israeli violations. The differences appeared to have been resolved on Thursday, when Hamas said it would release the hostages as planned.
But uncertainty looms over the future of the wider agreement. Negotiations on extending the ceasefire – which expires on March 1 – are in doubt.
As well as taking hostages, Palestinian militants killed more than 1,200 people during the October 7 attack. Israeli bombardment of Gaza since has killed more than 48,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, reduced much of the enclave to rubble, and led to a humanitarian catastrophe for surviving residents.
The war has spilled over into the wider region, putting Israel in conflict with key Hamas backer Iran, as well as Tehran proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
Source: CNN