Hamas released three more Israeli hostages Saturday — including an American father of three — preserving the fragile cease-fire agreement that nearly imploded after the terrorists threatened to delay the release of any additional captives.
Hamas and affiliated terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad turned over a trio of men kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023 — Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Alexander Troufanov, 29; and Yair Horn, 46 — to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been facilitating the release of the hostages in Gaza.
Dekel-Chen, Troufanov and Horn were paraded on stage in the propaganda ceremony in Khan Younis before each hostage spoke to the crowd of Hamas soldiers and citizens.
The 42-day cease-fire agreement seemed on course to collapse this week after Hamas threatened to postpone indefinitely any additional hostage releases.
The terror group accused Israel of violating various agreements in the truce deal, including allowing the delivery of tents and other aid for displaced Palestinians into the enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with President Trump’s backing, thundered on Tuesday that if Hamas did not release “our hostages” by noon Saturday, fighting would swiftly resume in the war-ravaged territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday echoed Trump, warning that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas stopped releasing hostages and promised a “new Gaza war” would continue until the terrorists were finally eliminated.
Hamas caved amid the saber rattling and agreed Thursday to hand over three hostages as previously agreed, claiming its delegation had spoken with Egyptian and Qatari officials about ensuring more aid was delivered. It said the mediators promised to “remove all hurdles.”
The three hostages freed were each kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Or during Hamas’ bloody cross-border attack on Oct. 7, where an estimated 80 of the nearly 400 residents were taken captive and dragged to Gaza.
Dekel-Chen, one of the last American-Israeli hostages believed still alive, was outside fixing a bus when he spotted the terrorists charging toward the kibbutz that morning.
He locked his wife, Avital, and their two daughters in their home’s safe room, before returning to help defend the kibbutz. Avital, seven months pregnant at the time, gave birth to their third daughter, Shachar Mazal, in December 2023.
Argentinian-Israeli Horn was kidnapped by the terror group along with his brother, Eitan, who is still held captive in Gaza.
Troufanov, a Russian-Israeli, was taken hostage alongside his mother, Yelena; his grandmother, Irena Tati, and his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen. His father, Vitaly, was among those massacred in the Oct. 7 attack. The women were released in November 2023 during a prior truce in the fighting.
Israel and Hamas so far have conducted six swaps during the six-week truce, which went into effect in January and brought to a halt 15 months of fighting in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ surprise massacre in Israel that killed 1,200 and saw another 251 kidnapped.
The fact that the truce nearly cratered this week, however, has cast further doubt on any chances that the multistage cease-fire deal will extend beyond its first six-week phase, where 33 Israeli hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023 are to be exchanged exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
As of Saturday, 24 hostages were freed — 16 Israelis and 5 Thai captives — and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners were released.
Another 369 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be turned over Saturday, Hamas said, 36 of whom were serving life sentences.
The two sides should have started talks hammering out the details of the next stage, which would see the release of all remaining live hostages in exchange for Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent cease-fire. So far, no meaningful discussions have taken place.
Netanyahu is facing pressure from his far-right allies in his governing coalition to resume fighting in Gaza at the end of the deal’s first stage in early March and implement a plan proposed by Trump calling for the forced resettlement of more than 2 million Gazans in neighboring Arab nations.
Those nations have largely refused to accept any Palestinians, though King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday told Trump his nation will accept 2,000 sick children from Gaza.
With Post wires
