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Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in the sixth swap underpinning a fragile truce that came close to collapse this week. In exchange, Israel has freed 369 Palestinian detainees.
The three hostages are Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Alexander Troufanov and Israeli-Argentinian Iair Horn, who have been held by Gaza militants since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that started the devastating war.
They were released in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where they were handed over to Red Cross officials amid a strong presence of fighters from Hamas's armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the three were with its forces. They will be taken to Israel for medical treatment and to be reunited with relatives.
Hamas agreed last month to hand over 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children and older men, in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, in the course of a six-week truce during which Israeli forces would pull back from some of their positions in Gaza.
Last week, Hamas threatened to stop releasing hostages after it accused Israel of breaching the terms of the ceasefire by blocking aid from entering Gaza. Israel threatened to resume fighting in Gaza, called up reservists and placed its forces on high alert.
But the Palestinian militant group said on Thursday it would release more hostages, after talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. The group said the mediators had pledged to “remove all hurdles” to assure Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into Gaza.
"The release of the sixth group confirms that negotiations and the ceasefire agreement are the only way to release hostages," Hamas said in a statement after releasing the three captives. "There is no migration except to Jerusalem, and this is our response to all the calls for displacement launched by Trump and those who support his approach from the forces of colonialism and occupation," it added, referencing recent proposals by US President Donald Trump to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is working with the US to get all of its hostages out of Gaza as "quickly as possible".
"Thanks to the concentration of our forces in and around the strip, and thanks to [US] President [Donald] Trump's clear and unequivocal statement, Hamas backed down and the release of the hostages continued," the office said in a statement.
Later in the day, Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 36 serving life sentences after deadly attacks. The first released prisoners arrived by bus in a town in the occupied West Bank and were greeted by a cheering crowd.
Hundreds of them reached Khan Younis, where they made victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd. According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group, Israel was to release 333 Gazans who were taken into custody during the war.
The group said that 24 of the freed detainees were expected to be sent into exile as part of the truce conditions.
Among the most prominent of the Palestinian detainees is Ahmed Barghouti, 48, a close aide of militant leader and prominent Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti. He is among those who will be deported.
Israel sentenced Ahmed Barghouti to life on charges that he sent suicide bombers during the Palestinian uprising, or Second Intifada, in the early 2000s to carry out attacks that killed Israeli civilians. He was arrested alongside Marwan Barghouti in 2002.
In the previous five swaps, 21 hostages and more than 730 Palestinian detainees were released.
Before Saturday, 16 of the 33 Israeli hostages had been returned, along with five Thais who were handed over in an unscheduled release. That left 76 hostages still in Gaza, only about half of whom are thought to be alive.
President Trump said that Israel would have to decide what to do about the noon deadline imposed on the release of all hostages. "The United States will back the decision they make!" Mr Trump said in a post on truth social.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump said "all hell" would break loose and he would call for the deal's cancellation if the hostages were not released on Saturday.
Israel has vowed to restart the war in Gaza, already devastated by 15 months of fighting, if the hostage release does not go ahead as planned.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement warned against derailing the truce, insisting that the momentum gained in recent weeks must not be lost.
"We cannot let this agreement collapse, we must continue to use this momentum to make a swift and responsible agreement for everyone!" it said.
