The Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov arrived on a liberation site in Gaza on Saturday after the Egyptian and Qatari mediators helped to avoid a confrontation which threatened to sink a fragile ceasefire.
The three were taken to a stage with activists armed with standing rifles on each side of them on the Khan Younis site, showed live sequences.
They returned in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, an exchange which supports the fears that the agreement could collapse before the end of a 42-day ceasefire.
Dekel-Chen, an American 36-year-old Israeli, Troufanov, a 29-year-old Russian Israeli, and Horn, a 46-year-old Argentinian Israeli from which Brother Eitan was also kidnapped, were seized in Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities around of the Gaza Strip which was invaded by armed men of Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Dozens of armed activists have been deployed on the version of the version.
Some Hamas fighters on the site carry rifles seized from the Israeli army during the October 7 attack, Hamas sources said.
Troufanov was kidnapped with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend, who were all released in the brief truce of November 2023. His father was killed in the attack on Nir Oz, one of the most communities touched, where one in four people died or was taken hostage.
Palestinian militant groups in Gaza say they will release the hostages Iair Horn, the Israeli American Sagui Dekel-Chen and the Israeli Russian Alexandre Sasha Troufanov on Saturday, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire with Israel.
Hamas had previously threatened not to release more hostages after accused Israel of having violated the terms of the ceasefire by blocking the aid by entering Gaza, drawing counterment of a resumption of fighting of Israel, who called the reservists and placed his strengths in high alert.
The emaciated appearance of three hostages published last week and accounts of abuse by other hostages published since January 19, when the ceasefire took effect has triggered Israeli demonstrations demanding that the government Take the hostages at home.
In an apparent effort to trigger some of the criticism of hostage ill -treatment, Islamic jihad, the militant group which is added to Hamas and held Troufanov, published a video of him on Friday, showing him eating and fishing at Gaza beach.
The prospects of ceasefire that survive have also been darkened by the call of American president Donald Trump so that the Palestinians are far from Gaza and for the enclave to be restarted in the United States to be redeveloped. This appeal was strongly rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Western allies.
“Trump’s threats are not scary and we won’t listen to it,” said Umm Muhammad Abu al-Rus, 46, who looked at the transfer of Khan Younis.
“We will stay on our land and in our houses in Gaza and we will never leave, whatever happens,” he told CBC Freelance the videographer Mohamed El Saife.
Hamas agreed last month to hand over 33 Israeli hostages, notably women, children and sick men, injured and older, in exchange for hundreds of prisoners and Palestinian prisoners, during a six -week truce during From which Israeli forces would withdraw from some of their their their their positions in Gaza.
Before Saturday, 16 of the 33 Israeli hostages had been returned, as well as five Thai people who were delivered in an unforeseen release. This left 76 hostages in Gaza, about half of which are considered alive.
On Saturday, Hamas is expected to release three other Israeli hostages in exchange for the safe yield of 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. It would be the sixth exchange of prisoners of hostages of the ceasefire, and it was not certain that it would happen. Power & Politics hears two former Canadian ambassadors, Jon Allen and Arif Lalani, on the growing fragility of the ceasefire agreement of Israel-Hamas.
The truce aimed to open the way to a second phase of negotiations to return the remaining hostages and make the withdrawal of Israeli forces before the war final and the reconstruction of Gaza, which is now largely in ruins, confronted with food shortages, running water and electricity.
The threat of Hamas not to release more hostages followed its accusation that Israel had blocked temporary tents and shelters of the entrance to Gaza, leaving tens of thousands exposed to winter cold.
Israel rejected the accusation, saying that it had allowed thousands of aid trucks and accusing Hamas in turn in the agreement. Hamas said on Saturday that it expects Israel to respect its help obligations for the ceasefire to remain on the right track.
International aid groups claim that more aid trucks have entered Gaza since the start of the ceasefire, but help officials say that the amounts are insufficient to meet the needs of the population.
Israel invaded the coastal enclave after the attack led by Hamas against the communities in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli accounts and taking 251 as offices.
The Israeli military campaign that followed has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, destroyed many of its buildings and left most of the people’s homeless.
