By MOHAMMAD JAHJOUH, MELANIE LIDMAN and JALAL BWAITEL | Associated Press
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Hamas completed the sixth exchange of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday with just over two weeks remaining in the initial phase of their fragile Gaza ceasefire.
Israelis expressed some relief as the three hostages — Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn, 46; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov, 29 — appeared to be in better condition than the emaciated hostages freed a week ago.
Before being reunited with family, Troufanov was informed of his father’s death in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the 16-month war. Chen prepared to meet his youngest daughter for the first time. Horn’s brother, Eitan, remains in captivity.
Armed, masked militants made the three pale, worn men walk onto a stage and speak to a crowd before handing them over to the Red Cross in the southern city of Khan Younis. The 369 Palestinian prisoners were later released.
A tense dispute earlier in the week threatened to derail the ceasefire and renew the fighting in Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the territory’s over 2 million Palestinians and settle them elsewhere in the region also shook the truce.
But Hamas said Thursday it would move ahead with the planned exchange after it said mediators Egypt and Qatar had pledged to “remove all hurdles” to ensure Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into devastated Gaza.
Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the hostages “seem to be in good shape,” adding: “Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!”
Israel has not imposed such a deadline, and it is not part of the ceasefire deal.
In the occupied West Bank town of Beitunia, released prisoners were greeted by a cheering crowd of relatives and supporters. Some appeared gaunt, and the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said four were taken for treatment. Buses transported 333 others to Gaza.
The ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. Before Saturday, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners had been freed during the first truce’s phase.
The ceasefire faces a much bigger challenge with its first phase concluding in early March. There have not been substantive negotiations over the second phase, in which Hamas would release all remaining hostages in return for ending the war.
The hostages and prisoners released
The three hostages had been abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community that was hard-hit in the Oct. 7 attack.
Horn was abducted with his brother, who is not on the list of hostages expected to be released in the ceasefire’s first phase.
“Now, we can breathe a little. Our Iair is home after surviving hell in Gaza,” his family said. “Now, we need to bring Eitan back so our family can truly breathe.”
Chen was working outside when militants stormed in. His wife, Avital Dekel Chen, hid in a safe room with their two daughters. She gave birth to their third daughter two months later. She told Israeli media she was overwhelmed with happiness to see her husband back in Israel, where he will meet his youngest daughter, Shachar.
Troufanov, whose father was killed, was taken hostage with his grandmother, mother and girlfriend. The women were released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023. His family said they were “overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude” Saturday. Russia’s government also expressed gratitude.
Of the 251 people abducted during the Oct. 7 attack, 73 remain in Gaza, around half believed to be dead. Nearly all are men, including Israeli soldiers.
Concern has grown about their condition. One hostage, 65-year-old Keith Siegel, said Friday in a video message addressed to Trump that his captors treated him worse as the war intensified, kicking him, spitting on him and holding him without water or light.
The newly released Palestinian prisoners included 36 serving life sentences for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis.
They include Ahmed Barghouti, 48, a close aide of militant leader and iconic Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti. Israel sentenced Ahmed Barghouti on charges that he dispatched suicide bombers during the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s in attacks that killed Israeli civilians.
Twenty-four of those serving life sentences will be exiled abroad, while 12 returned to the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
“When I saw my son, my soul came back to me again and I came back to life,” said Om Bashar, mother of Hassan Aweis, sentenced to life in 2002 on charges of voluntary manslaughter, planting an explosive device and attempted murder.
As part of the ceasefire, Israel has also committed to releasing over 1,000 detained from Gaza provided they did not participate in the Oct. 7 attack.
The truce remains fragile
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies are calling for the war to resume in early March with the goal of destroying Hamas. The militant group remains in control of the territory after surviving one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history.
Hamas may be unwilling to release more hostages if it believes the war will resume.
A new challenge to talks is Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, which has been welcomed by Israel’s government. But it has been rejected by Arab countries and Palestinians, who fear they won’t be able to return. Human rights groups say the relocation could amount to a war crime under international law.
Trump also proposed that once the war ends, Israel would transfer control of Gaza to the United States, which would redevelop it as the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million. Hundreds of thousands have returned to their homes during the ceasefire, though many found only rubble, human remains and unexploded ordnance.
The war has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
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Bwaitel reported from Beitunia, West Bank, and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Waafa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
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