Hamas Releases Three More Hostages in Exchange for 369 Palestinian Prisoners

In the sixth round of the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the extremist group Hamas released three more hostages and received 369 Palestinian prisoners in return. On Saturday, February 16, they freed Sagi Dekel-Khen, an Israeli-American hostage, Alexander (Sasha) Trofanov, an Israeli-Russian hostage, and Yair Horn, an Israeli-Argentinian hostage. Shortly after, once the vehicle carrying the three hostages joined the Israeli army and Shin Bet forces inside Gaza via the Red Cross, 369 Palestinian prisoners who had already boarded buses were released. Among these Palestinians, who were imprisoned in Ofer prison in the West Bank, 36 were sentenced to life imprisonment for 'terrorist activities,' and 333 were from the Gaza Strip returning to the enclave. Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, again paraded the hostages before their release in front of a crowd on camera. In the fifth exchange last week, during the release of three Israeli hostages, they were also displayed in front of a crowd and forced to thank Hamas, while their physical weakness was evident. In addition to the three hostages released today, according to the agreement, three more hostages are to be handed over on March 24 and three live hostages and eight corpses on March 2. Almost all of the remaining 73 hostages are men, including Israeli army soldiers; it is believed that only half of these hostages may still be alive. Regarding the hostages, Sasha Trofanov's father was killed in the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, but in videos released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, he speaks several times to his father, indicating that he is apparently unaware of his father's death. He was among the hostages taken by the Islamic Jihad group, which released two other videos of him within a day before his release. Sasha Trofanov's mother, grandmother, and fiancée were also kidnapped on the day of the Hamas attack and were released after two months. Yair Horn was abducted along with his brother, Eitan. Following Yair Horn's release, his brother, if still alive, remains a hostage of Hamas. The Israeli army suspects that Eitan Horn is alive. Sagi Dekel-Khen, Yair Horn, and Sasha Trofanov were all neighbors who were abducted from the Niroz kibbutz near Gaza on the day of the Hamas attack. About 80 people from this kibbutz were abducted in the attack, and about 80 other residents of the kibbutz were also killed. Today's exchange occurred while the warring parties, who have yet to agree on the second phase of the ceasefire, have repeatedly accused each other of violating the agreement, raising concerns that the war may resume. In this context, last week Hamas threatened to halt the process of releasing Israeli hostages from Gaza. In response, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened last Wednesday that if Hamas did not release the hostages on Saturday, Israel would resume the war. Donald Trump also recently warned that if the hostages were not released, the ceasefire agreement for Gaza should be revoked.