Hamas released three Israeli hostages on February 15 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the sixth hostage-prisoner swap as the Gaza ceasefire deal is in effect. The exchange took place despite fears that the Gaza truce deal was near collapse.
Hamas gunmen paraded the hostages onto a stage in front of a crowd in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before handing them over to the Red Cross. Clutching gift bags given by their captors and certificates to mark the end of their captivity, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.
A busload of Palestinian prisoners also departed Israel’s Ofer Prison and was greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip.
The three hostages – Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn – had been held by Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war 16 months ago.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, Israel was to release 333 Gazans who were taken into custody during the war, as well as 36 prisoners serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal. Israel confirmed it had released a total of 369 prisoners.
“The three returning hostages are currently being accompanied by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and the ISA (Israel Security Agency) forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment,” the IDF tweeted.
Hamas had earlier threatened not to release more hostages after it accused Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire by blocking aid from entering Gaza, drawing counter threats of a resumption of fighting from Israel, which called up reservists and placed its forces on high alert.
In response, US President Donald Trump had said that if all hostages held in Gaza were not released by Saturday noon, he would propose ending the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and “let hell break out”.
