Sixth hostage-prisoner swap under Gaza ceasefire
KHAN YUNIS: Palestinians released three Israeli captives on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap despite fears the Gaza truce deal was near collapse.
An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas fighters parade the captives onto a stage before a crowd in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis.
Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn were made to make statements into a microphone before being handed over to the Red Cross and taken back home to Israeli territory, after being held for more than 16 months.
Clutching gift bags given by Hamas, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further exchanges under the ceasefire deal.
Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed Israel's Ofer Prison and were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist said.
More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip, according to another journalist.
Saturday's swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause releases over alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume the war if it did.
Out of 251 captives seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians freed by Israel reached Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, where they made victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd.
In the West Bank, one freed inmate, Amir Abu Radaha, said: "I've returned to my family and I've returned anew, born again."
Charged with intentionally causing death, Abu Radaha had spent almost 32 years in jail.
Israel confirmed it had released a total of 369 prisoners.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group, those to be freed included 36 serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal. The deportees, with shaven heads, later arrived by bus on the Egyptian side of the border, an AFP correspondent said.
Negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire, meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war, are expected to begin this week.
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