Hamas has released three Israeli hostages for whom it had received a direct threat from US President Donald Trump. The Israeli hostages arrived in Gaza after Egyptian and Qatari mediators helped avert a clash that threatened to derail a fragile ceasefire. Armed Hamas militants tied the three hostages to a stage in Khan Younis.
The three hostages were returned in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, a swap that eases fears that the deal could collapse before the end of a 42-day ceasefire. Dekel-Chen, the American-Israeli, Troufanov, the Russian-Israeli, and Horn, whose brother Eitan was also kidnapped, were captured in Kibbutz, one of the communities around the Gaza Strip that was overrun by Hamas gunmen on October 7, 2023, A2 CNN writes.
The hostages appear physically weak. Accounts of abuse by other hostages released since January 19, when the ceasefire took effect, have prompted Israeli protests demanding that the government uphold the ceasefire and move forward with the next phase of the deal to bring all the hostages home. In an apparent attempt to deflect some of the criticism over the mistreatment of the hostages, Islamic Jihad, the Hamas-allied militant group that is holding Troufanov, released a video of him on Friday, showing him eating and fishing on a Gaza beach.
Hamas militants have released a total of 19 Israeli hostages as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, out of a total of 33 promised at various intervals during that phase. Eight of those 33 are dead, according to the Israeli government. (A2 Televizion)
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