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Hamas released three other Israeli men from captivity in Gaza on Saturday, after the increasingly fragile four-week ceasefire almost collapsed in a week of Brinkmanship.
The Israelis were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in a detailed ceremony in Khan Yunis, a predominantly destroyed city – and Hamas Stronghold – in the southern belt of Gaza.
They were taken hostage by their homes at Kibbutz Nir Oz during the attack of the Palestinian militant group in Israel on October 7, 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli officials.
Sagui Decel-Chen, Sasha Trubanov and Iair Horn appeared, at least physically, to be in better condition than the previous group of brave men who were released last weekend. During the ceremony, the Hamas fighters showed weapons and uniforms they had captured by Israeli military bases during the cross -border raid in 2023.
Israel is scheduled to issue more than 350 Palestinian prisoners later on Saturday under ceasefire.
The deal was almost overthrown this week after Hamas claimed that Israel was violating the ceasefire by blocking the entry into heavy machinery to clear the ruins and mobile homes to shelter hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
Hamas threatened to delay the issuance of hostages if Israel did not facilitate the entry of equipment as required in the ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by redefining troops near the border of Gaza in south Israel and pledging to resume the attack on Hamas if the release did not happen as planned.
In the coming days, the Arab media broadcast images of some heavy machinery entering Egypt, and Hamas on Friday agreed to continue the amazing hostages of the hostages.
The need for shelter in Gaza became increasingly urgent this week as winter storms overthrew the coastal enclave. About 2m people have been displaced and are living in tent cities and the ruins of their neighborhoods.
The vast majority of Palestinian prisoners scheduled to release Saturday were held without trial in Israeli prisons after being detained in Gaza during the 15 months of war. More than 48,000 people have been killed in the belt surrounded since the beginning of the war, according to local officials.
The three -phase ceasefire is in a transition period between the first and second stages, during which negotiations to end the war are supposed to occur.
In the first six-week period which ends in early March-Hamas is required to issue 33 Israeli hostages including all children, women and men over 50. By Saturday, she had released 24 of them. Many of the 73 remaining hostages are thought to have died.
The group initially took about 250 people hostage on October 7, 2023. It issued about 120 during a short ceasefire in November 2023 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas will only begin to leave the male soldiers who took captive and submit the hostage troops if the negotiations succeed in turning temporary ceasefire into a permanent ceasefire. This would require Israel to withdraw his forces from Gaza forever.
These talks would begin last week, but Israel has not yet sent any high -level team to Qatar or Egypt, which are mediating the agreement along with SH.BA
The ceasefire framework is increasingly being strained due to operational quarrels and because of US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he aims to take over Gaza.
Trump’s proposal, which can result in the massive expulsion of about 2.3 million Palestinian civilians, has encouraged Netanyahu, who does not want to end the war with Hamas.
Trump hosted Jordan Abdullah’s king at the White House this week and repeated his assertion that Jordan and Egypt would take refugees, despite the widespread punishment of the plan in the Arab world.
