KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel and Hamas accomplished the sixth alternate of hostages and a whole bunch of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday with simply over two weeks remaining within the preliminary part of their fragile Gaza ceasefire.
Israelis expressed some aid because the three hostages — Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn, 46; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov, 29 — gave the impression to be in higher situation than the emaciated hostages freed every week in the past.
Earlier than being reunited with household, Troufanov was knowledgeable of his father’s demise within the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, assault that sparked the 16-month battle. Chen ready to fulfill his youngest daughter for the primary time. Horn’s brother, Eitan, stays in captivity.
Armed, masked militants made the three pale, worn males stroll onto a stage and communicate to a crowd earlier than handing them over to the Purple Cross within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis. The 369 Palestinian prisoners had been later launched.
A tense dispute earlier within the week threatened to derail the ceasefire and renew the preventing in Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to take away the territory’s over 2 million Palestinians and settle them elsewhere within the area additionally shook the truce.
However Hamas mentioned Thursday it could transfer forward with the deliberate alternate after it mentioned mediators Egypt and Qatar had pledged to “take away all hurdles” to make sure Israel would permit extra tents, medical provides and different necessities into devastated Gaza.
Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the hostages “appear to be in fine condition,” including: “Israel will now must resolve what they may do in regards to the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the discharge of ALL HOSTAGES. The USA will again the choice they make!”
Israel has not imposed such a deadline, and it isn’t a part of the ceasefire deal.
Within the occupied West Financial institution city of Beitunia, launched prisoners had been greeted by a cheering crowd of relations and supporters. Some appeared gaunt, and the Palestinian Purple Crescent emergency service mentioned 4 had been taken for remedy. Buses transported 333 others to Gaza.
The ceasefire took impact on Jan. 19. Earlier than Saturday, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners had been freed throughout the first truce’s part.
The ceasefire faces a a lot larger problem with its first part concluding in early March. There haven’t been substantive negotiations over the second part, through which Hamas would launch all remaining hostages in return for ending the battle.
The hostages and prisoners launched
The three hostages had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a neighborhood that was hard-hit within the Oct. 7 assault.
Horn was kidnapped together with his brother, who is just not on the record of hostages anticipated to be launched within the ceasefire’s first part.
“Now, we will breathe slightly. Our Iair is dwelling after surviving hell in Gaza,” his household mentioned. “Now, we have to carry Eitan again so our household can really breathe.”
Chen was working outdoors when militants stormed in. His spouse, Avital Dekel Chen, hid in a secure room with their two daughters. She gave start to their third daughter two months later. She informed Israeli media she was overwhelmed with happiness to see her husband again in Israel, the place he’ll meet his youngest daughter, Shachar.
Troufanov, whose father was killed, was taken hostage together with his grandmother, mom and girlfriend. The ladies had been launched throughout a short ceasefire in November 2023. His household mentioned they had been “overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude” Saturday. Russia’s authorities additionally expressed gratitude.
Of the 251 folks kidnapped throughout the Oct. 7 assault, 73 stay in Gaza, round half believed to be lifeless. Almost all are males, together with Israeli troopers.
Concern has grown about their situation. One hostage, 65-year-old Keith Siegel, mentioned Friday in a video message addressed to Trump that his captors handled him worse because the battle intensified, kicking him, spitting on him and holding him with out water or mild.
The newly launched Palestinian prisoners included 36 serving life sentences for involvement in lethal assaults in opposition to Israelis.
They embrace Ahmed Barghouti, 48, a detailed aide of militant chief and iconic Palestinian political determine Marwan Barghouti. Israel sentenced Ahmed Barghouti on expenses that he dispatched suicide bombers throughout the Palestinian rebellion within the early 2000s in assaults that killed Israeli civilians.
Twenty-four of these serving life sentences might be exiled overseas, whereas 12 returned to the occupied West Financial institution and east Jerusalem.
“Once I noticed my son, my soul got here again to me once more and I got here again to life,” mentioned Om Bashar, mom of Hassan Aweis, sentenced to life in 2002 on expenses of voluntary manslaughter, planting an explosive gadget and tried homicide.
As a part of the ceasefire, Israel has additionally dedicated to releasing over 1,000 detained from Gaza offered they didn’t take part within the Oct. 7 assault.
The truce stays fragile
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies are calling for the battle to renew in early March with the aim of destroying Hamas. The militant group stays answerable for the territory after surviving one of many deadliest and most damaging army campaigns in latest historical past.
Hamas could also be unwilling to launch extra hostages if it believes the battle will resume.
A brand new problem to talks is Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, which has been welcomed by Israel’s authorities. But it surely has been rejected by Arab international locations and Palestinians, who worry they will not have the ability to return. Human rights teams say the relocation might quantity to a battle crime beneath worldwide regulation.
Trump additionally proposed that after the battle ends, Israel would switch management of Gaza to the USA, which might redevelop it because the “Riviera of the Center East.”
At its peak, the battle displaced 90% of Gaza’s inhabitants of two.3 million. A whole bunch of 1000’s have returned to their houses throughout the ceasefire, although many discovered solely rubble, human stays and unexploded ordnance.
The battle has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, principally girls and kids, in keeping with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say what number of had been fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.
—Bwaitel reported from Beitunia, West Financial institution, and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Related Press writers Waafa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
