15-02-2025
Hamas to release three hostages, including an American citizen
JAFFA, Israel — Hamas on Saturday said it would hand over three hostages, among them an American citizen, and Israel is expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners, in a highly scrutinized sixth exchange days after the tenuous one-month ceasefire appeared on the brink of collapse.
Israeli American Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Russian Israeli Sasha Alexander Troufanov, 29, and Iair Horn, 46, who was born in Argentina, were expected to be released into International Red Cross custody Saturday morning from Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. In previous weeks, Hamas militants have paraded hostages onto a stage, where they were forced to pose for photos before being led through a large crowd of civilians and armed Hamas fighters from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
A sign on the stage Saturday draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags read 'No migration except to Jerusalem' in an apparent rebuttal to President Trump's plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.
The three men are residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where they were taken by Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and will reunite with their family and undergo medical care after returning to Israel. Previously released hostages said their captors subjected them to physical and psychological torture.
Dekel-Chen was at work at the Kibbutz's machine shop, where he converted airport buses into mobile classrooms, when the Hamas-led assault began, according to his family. His wife, Avital, and their two young daughters survived by hiding in their home's safe room. Avital was pregnant at the time and gave birth to their third daughter two months later.
Horn, who organized Kibbutz parties and managed the community's pub, was kidnapped alongside his brother Eitan, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Troufanov was taken hostage along with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend, who were released during a brief humanitarian pause and prisoner exchange in November 2023. Gunmen killed his father during the attack.
Some 1200 Israelis were killed and 250 others taken hostage during the surprise Hamas attack. Israel in response vowed to eliminate Hamas and launched a withering war that's killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza and decimated the coastal enclave.
As part of the three-phase ceasefire that began Jan. 19, Hamas agreed to initially release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for a temporary halt in fighting in Gaza, release of Palestinian prisoners and surge in humanitarian aid to the Strip. The remainder of the more than 50 hostages, both dead and alive, are to be released during the deal's second phase.
The deal, however, does not put an end to the fighting and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled out a return to war.
The shaky ceasefire has hit repeated bumps, perhaps the most serious on Tuesday when Hamas said it would delay hostage releases over Israel blocking the entry of tents, heavy machinery and medical supplies, among other alleged ceasefire violations. President Donald Trump warned 'all hell is going to break out' if hostages were not released and Netanyahu threatened to end the ceasefire before mediators intervened and Hamas on Thursday reversed course.
As the ceasefire agreement teetered, Trump's proposal to take 'ownership' over Gaza, develop the Strip and permanently remove its 2.2 million residents continued to spark outrage and condemnation across the Arab world. He told Fox News on Monday that Palestinians from Gaza would not have the right to return, eliciting fear and frustration among the war-traumatized population, who still face compounding humanitarian crises weeks into the ceasefire and aid surge.
In Israel, the gaunt and pale appearance of three Israeli hostages released last week raised fears over the conditions of those still in captivity.
'We are afraid to see what will be be,' Maayan Arbel, 46, told The Washington Post of the remaining hostages as she held a poster of Dekel-Chen in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square.
Previous handovers have turned chaotic when crowds jostled for glimpses of the hostages and prompted fears in Israel over their safety. In one exchange in late January, Netanyahu briefly delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners in protest, underscoring the high stakes at each step of the ceasefire.
In total, Hamas has released 21 hostages as part off the ceasefire, 5 of whom are Thai citizens kidnapped while working in Israeli fields.
Securing the release of U.S. citizens held in Gaza has been a top Trump priority, as it was for former president Joe Biden. In the fourth exchange, on Feb. 1, Hamas released U.S. citizen Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage from his home on Kibbutz Kfar Azan on Oct. 7, 2023. Another U.S. citizen held captive, Edan Alexander, 21, from New Jersey, was serving in the Israeli military and is expected to be released in the ceasefire's second phase along with other Israeli soldiers.
Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of four more U.S. citizens killed in the Oct. 7 attack. Four other Americans taken hostage by Hamas were released in November of 2023.
Following Saturday's releases in Gaza, Israel is set to release 369 Palestinians, among them 333 who were detained from Gaza since the war began, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners Society. The rest of those slated for release are from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, 24 of whom will be exiled and sent to Egypt, according to the society.
Israel did not immediately disclose how many Palestinians would be released.
More than 730 Palestinians, among them more than 200 Palestinians detained in Gaza, have been released so far in the deal. Prison conditions for Palestinians have severely worsened since Oct. 7, and released detainees say they have been subject to physical and psychological abuse and torture.
As the skies have quieted over Gaza, however, tensions are rising in the West Bank where Israeli settler violence has spiked.
On Jan. 21, Israel launched its longest-lasting raid in the occupied territory in two decades and has detained at least 380 Palestinians during raids on northern West Bank cities, villages and refugee camps, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Israel Defense Forces says it is targeting militants in places such as Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm. Residents and rights groups say civilians have been killed or arrested in the raids and infrastructure torn up. Israeli forces have killed 44 people and more than 40,000 people have been displaced by Israeli military operations in just over three weeks, according to OCHA, the U.N. humanitarian agency.
Israeli authorities have also raided the homes of families of prisoners slated for release and warned them against holding celebrations.
Heidi Levine contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.
