Gaza truce holds as Hamas releases three hostages

Amin Qudsi

Hamas has released three Israeli hostages Saturday, backing down from an earlier warning it would pull out of the Gaza truce over repeated Israeli violations of their ceasefire deal.

Israelis Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov arrived at a release site in Khan Younis after Egyptian and Qatari mediators helped avert a standoff that threatened to sink the fragile ceasefire.

The first bus carrying freed Palestinian prisoners and detainees simultaneously departed Israeli jail Ofer in the West Bank, live footage showed.

Hamas had warned several times in the last week it would not release any hostages because it is convinced the Zionazis are determined to resume the genocide as soon as all hostages are free.

Israel and the US countered with threats to resume the genocide immediately if the hostages were not released.

The three Israelis are being exchanged for 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

In “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, people broke into cheers and tears when they heard the Red Cross was on its way to deliver the three to Israeli forces in Gaza.

Armed militants were deployed at the Khan Younis site, some carrying rifles seized from the Israeli military during the 7 October attack, Hamas sources said.

Israelis have also been holding protests demanding the government stick to the ceasefire and to move to the next stage of the deal to bring all the hostages home.

Islamic Jihad, Troufanov’s erstwhile captors, released a video of him Friday, showing him eating and fishing on a Gaza beach.

Prospects for the ceasefire surviving have also been clouded by US King Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be moved permanently out of Gaza, and for the enclave to be taken over by the United States to be turned into a holiday resort. That call was strongly rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Western allies.