Fighters led by Hamas launched three male Israeli hostages on Saturday and the Israeli forces, hundreds of prisoners were liberated in return, in the last indication that the fragile ceasefire that was swinging in recent days kept it.
The gunmen in the Southern Gaza Strip presented the three hostages – 46, a dual citizen of Israel and Argentina; The Israeli American Sago Dickening Chen, 36; And the Israeli-Russian Alexander (Sasha) Trinfanov, 29-Before a crowd before its launch. They were taken to Israel to meet with their families and receive a hospital’s medical evaluation.
All of them were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a society that was shocked on October 7, 2023, an attack that ignited the conflict. They appeared pale and wicked, but they looked in a better physical condition than the three men who were released last Saturday, who left 16 months of families.
The tense conflict is at risk to almost a four -week -old truce in recent days and threatened to renew the fighting.
The controversial US President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove more than two million Palestinians from Gaza and settle it elsewhere in the region has made more doubt about the future of the ceasefire.
But Hamas said on Thursday that it would advance with the issuance of more hostages after talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials. The group said that the brokers pledged to “remove all obstacles” to ensure that Israel allows more tents, medical supplies and other necessities in Gaza.
As with previous exchanges, the hostages are greatly designed, as the prisoners made walking on stage and speak to the microphones before the crowd. And dozens of Hamas fighters convincingly near the theater with Palestinian flags and signs of armed factions.
In the field of Tel Aviv’s hostage, a large chant rose where the hostages were moved to the Red Cross. “IAIR, Sagui and SASHA are on their way home!” A broadcaster said.
In exchange for the release of the hostages, Israel began to launch 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
A bus carrying the first prisoners to be released to the occupied West Petonia and received by a crowd of relatives and supporters. Some appeared in the prudence, and the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said immediately to receive medical treatment.
Most of those who were issued to Gaza were transferred, where they were received by a large crowd in Khan Yunis, the same city where the hostages were launched hours ago.
This is the sixth exchange since it entered the ceasefire on January 19. Before Saturday, 21 hostages and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners were released during the first stage of the armistice.
Who are the hostages and prisoners who are released?
Horn was kidnapped with his brother, Eitan Horn, who was staying with him at the time. Eitan, 37, is still in captivity and is not included in the hostage list that is expected to be released in the first stage of the ceasefire.
Get the daily national news
Get the best news a day, addresses of political and economic affairs and current affairs, to your in the inbox once a day.
“Now, we can breathe a little. His family said in a statement:” Now, we need to return Eitan so that our family can really breathe. “
Dickel Chen was working abroad when militants stormed Kibutz. His pregnant wife, Avital Dekel Chen, hidden in a safe room with their two daughters. She gave birth to her third daughter after two months. Speaking to the Israeli media on Saturday, she said that she was soaked in happiness to see Sagawi again in Israel, where he will meet his younger daughter, shakhar, for the first time.
Truvanov, whose father was killed during the October 7 attack, was transferred with his grandmother, mother and girlfriend. The three women were released during a short period of the shooting in November 2023. TROWRFANOV was informed of his father’s death after his release, shortly for his family, who said they were “drowned in emotion and gratitude” while crossing into Israeli territory.
Among the Palestinian prisoners, who were released 36 provisions for life for their involvement in deadly attacks against the Israelis.
Among the most prominent of which is Ahmed Bragotti, 48, a assistant close to the hard -line leader and the distinguished Palestinian political figure Marwan Bragotti.
Israel, Ahmed Bragotti, ruled life on charges of sending suicide bombers during the second intifada, or the Palestinian uprising, in the early first decade of the twentieth century for killing Israeli civilians. He was arrested along with Marwan Bragotti in 2002.
There were twenty -four of those who spent the rulings for life abroad, while 12 returned to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The other 333 was returned to Gaza, where they were arrested. As part of the ceasefire, Israel committed to issuing more than 1,000 detainees from Gaza, provided that they did not participate in the October 7 attack.
Fears are high about the state of the remaining hostages
Of the 251 people who were kidnapped during the October 7 attack, 73 remained in Gaza, and it is believed that half of them had died. Almost all the remaining hostages are men, including Israeli soldiers.
Anxiety was growing about their condition, especially after the launch of three on Saturday, who appeared looking for meager and weak.
One of them, 65 -year -old Keith Siegel, said on Friday in a video letter to Trump that his kidnappers had dealt with him worse with the intensification of the 15 -month conflict, kicking it, broadcasting it and grabbing it without water or light.
The truce is still fragile
The ceasefire seemed about to collapse in recent days.
Hamas said that the hostage will be delayed after Israel accused not to adhere to their approval by not allowing enough shelters, medical supplies, fuel and heavy equipment to purify the rubble. Israel said it would resume the fighting on Saturday, unless the hostages were released.
Although the immediate crisis may have been avoided, the truce faces a much greater challenge with the first stage of the deal that will be concluded in early March. There were no fundamental negotiations yet during the second stage, as Hamas will launch all the remaining hostages in exchange for ending the conflict.
At its height, the fighting was displaced 90 % of the Gaza population of 2.3 million. Hundreds of thousands since then have returned to their homes as the ceasefire continued, although many of them have found only buried human remains and uninterrupted ammunition.
The conflict killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not say the number of fighters. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Trump’s plan increases uncertainty
Trump’s proposal to remove about two million Palestinians from Gaza and settled elsewhere in the region has threw the future of the armistice in more doubt.
The government of Israel welcomed the idea. But it was strongly rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab countries. Human rights groups say they may rise to the extent of war crime under international law.
Trump suggested that once the fighting is over, Israel will transfer control of Gaza to the United States, which will then be re -developed as “the Riviera for the Middle East.”
The allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are already calling on extremists to resume the conflict after the first stage with the aim of destroying Hamas and implementing the Trump plan. The armed group still controls the region after it survived from one of the most destructive and destructive military campaigns in modern history.
Hamas may be unwilling to release any other hostage if you believe that the conflict will resume. The prisoners are among the only bargaining chips that left them.
