Three Israeli hostages released in Gaza after ceasefire
Hamas released Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov in Gaza and Israel began releasing some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in return, after mediators helped prevent the ceasefire from collapsing. They were paraded before the crowd by the terrorist group, then handed over to the Red Cross and finally taken to a health centre for a check-up before being reunited with their families.
Hamas released Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov in Gaza on Saturday and Israel began freeing some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange, after mediators helped avert a ceasefire collapse.
The three Israelis were led onto a stage with Palestinian Hamas militants armed with automatic rifles standing on each side of them at the site in Khan Younis, live footage showed, before they were taken into Israel by Israeli forces.
Shortly afterwards, the first bus carrying freed Palestinian prisoners and detainees departed Israel's Ofer jail in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, live footage showed. The bus arrived in Ramallah to a cheering crowd, some waving Palestinian flags.
"We didn't expect to be freed, but God is great, God set us free," said Musa Nawarwa, 70, from the West Bank town of Bethlehem, who was serving two life terms for killings of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. He is a former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group.
Argentina-born Iair Horn, 46, was taken captive together with his younger brother Eitan. Horn appeared to have lost considerable weight in captivity.
"Now, we can breathe a little. Our Iair is home after surviving hell in Gaza. Now, we need to bring Eitan back so our family can truly breathe," Horn's family said in a statement.
The swap of the three Israelis for the 369 Palestinians allayed growing alarm that the ceasefire agreement could unravel before the end of the 42-day first stage of the truce pact in effect since January 19, after 15 months of devastating war.
In what has become known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, people broke into cheers and tears when they heard the Red Cross was on its way to deliver the three to Israeli military forces in the Gaza Strip.
They appeared relieved to see that the trio was in apparently better physical condition than another three freed last week who looked weak and emaciated.
On the handover stage in Khan Younis, the hostages were made to give short statements in Hebrew and militants presented Horn with an hourglass and photo of another Israeli hostage still in Gaza and his mother, reading "time is running out (for the hostages still in Gaza)".
Troufanov was abducted with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend - all of whom were released during a brief November 2023 pause in hostilities. His father was killed in the attack on Nir Oz, one of the worst-hit communities, where one in four people either died or were taken hostage.
On October 7, Dekel Chen, 36, left his pregnant wife and two little daughters in the family safe room to go out and fight gunmen rampaging through the kibbutz. With his release, he will meet his youngest daughter for the first time.
Nineteen Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released so far, with 73 still in captivity, around half of whom have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
