JAKARTA - Israeli Hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov are expected to be released from Gaza on Saturday after Egyptian and Qatar mediators helped prevent a deadlock that threatened to sink a fragile ceasefire.
Reported by Reuters on Saturday, February 15, the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, said the three would be returned, in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners, reducing fears the agreement could fail before the 42-day ceasefire ends.
Dekel-Chen, a resident of AS-Israeli, Troufanov, an Israeli-Russian, and Horn resident, whose brother Eitan was also kidnapped, was arrested in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Hamas previously threatened not to release hostages again after they accused Israel of violating ceasefire provisions by blocking aid from entering Gaza, posing a retaliatory threat in the form of restarting fighting from Israel, which summoned reserve forces and put its troops on high alert.
Israelis were angered by their thin condition and reports of mistreatment of the three hostages released last week, but there were also major protests demanding the government continue to carry out an agreement to repatriate all hostages.
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The prospect of a ceasefire was also obscured by US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be permanently removed from Gaza, and for the enclave to be handed over to the United States for rebuilding, a call was strongly rejected by Palestinian groups and Arab countries.
Hamas last month agreed to hand over 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children and elderly men, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and prisoners, during a six-week ceasefire in which Israeli forces would withdraw some of their positions in Gaza.
16 of the 33 Israeli hostages have been returned, along with five Thai citizens who were handed over in unscheduled releases.
Currently 76 hostages are still in Gaza, and only about half are estimated to be alive.
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