Hamas released three more hostages Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners as a fragile ceasefire appears to be holding despite recent tensions.
Israeli American Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, reportedly was taken captive when he confronted Hamas militants during their Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel. Two months after his capture, his wife, Avital, gave birth to their third daughter.
Also released was Israeli Russian Sasha Troufanov, 29, also from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was taken prisoner in the Hamas attack, along with his mother, Yelena, grandmother Irina Tati and girlfriend Sapir Cohen. All three women were released in a hostage deal a month later. His father, Vitaly, was killed in the attack. The family emigrated to Israel from Russia 25 years ago.
The third hostage released was identified as Israeli Argentinian Iair Horn, 46, also from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was kidnapped in the Hamas attack, along with his brother Eitan, who is not part of the current phase of the hostage deal.
The three men were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis before being transported to Israeli forces.
In Tel Aviv, family members and supporters watching the release via video cheered as the men emerged from vehicles at the site of the handover.
Meanwhile, the first bus carrying freed Palestinian prisoners and detainees arrived in Ramallah to a cheering crowd waving Palestinian flags. Hamas said some 369 Palestinians were set to be released Saturday.
It is the sixth swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners as part of the Jan. 19 ceasefire agreement between the two sides. Hamas said the hostages would be exchanged for 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The militant group named the three hostages on Friday after threatening earlier in the week to not release them, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, set to last six weeks, Hamas is to gradually free 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Twenty-one hostages and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners have been freed, so far, during the first phase of the truce.
Concerns in Israel have grown about the condition of the remaining hostages after the last three hostages, released a week ago, came home looking emaciated.
On Thursday, Hamas spokesperson Abdul-Latif al-Qanou indicated the militant group would abide by the ceasefire.
“We are not interested in the collapse of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, and we are keen on its implementation and ensuring that the occupation [Israeli forces] adheres to it fully,” he said.
Qanou also criticized what he called “language of threats and intimidation” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, saying they do not help the implementation of the ceasefire.
The Israeli government later reiterated that Hamas must release three hostages this weekend.
“If those three are not released, if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said.
Hamas earlier this week accused Israel of violating the deal by continuing airstrikes on people in Gaza and blocking aid. The group said future hostage releases would be postponed.
Netanyahu said fighting would resume if more captives were not freed Saturday.
Also Friday, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. Security Council that more than 630 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Thursday, with at least 300 of them heading to the northern section of Gaza.
He urged the Security Council and all U.N. member states to support efforts to implement the ceasefire and bring about a permanent cessation of hostilities. He also called for the international media to be allowed into Gaza to report on the situation on the ground.
Meanwhile, U.N. ambassadors from the 22-nation Arab Group rejected Trump’s proposal Friday for the U.S. to take over control of the Gaza Strip and for Palestinians to be relocated elsewhere. They also expressed their own desire to see Gaza rebuilt for Palestinians.
Speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, the group’s chairman, U.N. Ambassador from Kuwait Tareq Albanai, said the suggested displacement of Palestinians from Gaza would constitute “a clear violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, prohibiting the forcible transfer of protected populations from occupied territories, irrespective of motive.”
U.N. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Palestinians would like to see Gaza rebuilt as Trump imagined, only for the Palestinians.
“We have no homeland except Palestine,” he said. “We love Palestine. We will rebuild the Gaza Strip. We will rebuild Palestine.”
Mansour said the group also was strongly united behind the current ceasefire agreement and to make it permanent, and for it to be expanded to include not only Gaza but the occupied West Bank as well. The Arab Group also extended an invitation to the U.N. Security Council to visit Gaza.
