Hamas freed three extra Israeli hostages on Saturday as Israel launched 369 Palestinian prisoners, prolonging a fragile cease-fire within the Gaza Strip that seemed to be teetering solely days in the past.
The hostages — Alexander Troufanov, 29, referred to as Sasha; Iair Horn, 46; and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, one of many few Individuals nonetheless held in Gaza — have been noticeably thinner and paler after spending 16 months in captivity. That they had been kidnapped from the Israeli border village of Nir Oz in the course of the Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the battle in Gaza.
However they didn’t seem as emaciated because the three hostages launched final Saturday, whose situation prompted outrage and horror in Israel.
Palestinian militants as soon as once more used the trade, the sixth carried out beneath the primary section of the cease-fire, to stage a present supposed to reveal that they nonetheless dominate Gaza, regardless of Israel’s devastating bombardment and floor invasion in response to the 2023 assault.
Dozens of gun-toting fighters affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad compelled Mr. Troufanov, Mr. Horn and Mr. Dekel-Chen to mount a stage within the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis and to provide speeches in Hebrew, with portraits of Hamas leaders on the stage behind them.
On the stage, the militants additionally displayed images of Matan Zangauker, an Israeli hostage nonetheless in captivity, and of his mom, Einav Zangauker, who has been campaigning for his freedom. They have been proven alongside an hourglass and the phrases, “Time is operating out.”
The militants, some carrying Israeli weapons, later gave the hourglass to Mr. Horn.
In a jab at President Trump’s current name for Palestinians to go away Gaza en masse, a banner on the stage learn “there isn’t a migration besides to Jerusalem.” Hamas — and far of the Arab world — have roundly rejected Mr. Trump’s proposal.
The trade may maintain the cease-fire, no less than for now. However the truce’s long-term future stays unsure. The association, which started in late January, is about to run out in early March until Israel and Hamas comply with an extension.
The primary section of the truce took months of arduous negotiation to be agreed upon, and there was little indication that Israel and Hamas have begun severe talks concerning the subsequent stage, which is meant to incorporate an finish to the battle, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the discharge of the remaining residing hostages. Greater than 70 hostages — lots of them presumed useless — stay in Gaza.
Because the hostages have been launched on Saturday, a whole lot of Israelis who had gathered in a sq. in Tel Aviv cheered, waved Israeli flags and shed tears of pleasure whereas they watched the handover on a big tv display.
The aid was a giant change from the shock and fury that erupted in Israel final Saturday when Hamas launched three gaunt and apparently malnourished hostages and compelled them to thank their captors. This time, the captors didn’t prod the hostages to supply them thanks.
“Three items have returned to my coronary heart,” stated Doron Zexer, a outstanding advocate for the hostages. “The enjoyment now could be a full one.”
Viki Cohen, the mom of an Israeli soldier nonetheless held captive in Gaza, stated in an interview that the happiness of seeing extra hostages launched was tempered by anguish and uncertainty.
“We’re on a loopy curler coaster,” Ms. Cohen stated. Her son, Nimrod, shouldn’t be among the many hostages anticipated to be launched within the first section of the cease-fire. “We’re doing every thing in our energy for him to return,” she stated.
The Palestinian prisoners who have been launched included 36 serving life sentences for assaults on Israelis. In addition they included greater than 300 Gazans detained because the battle broke out. Most such detainees haven’t been formally charged with any crime and have been typically held incommunicado for prolonged durations.
Israeli jail officers made them put on sweatshirts that bore a phrase in Arabic: “We will neither neglect nor forgive.”
Israeli jail officers had additionally tied menacing messages round a number of the prisoners’ wrists.
“The everlasting nation won’t neglect,” learn one message, an Arabic adaptation of a well known Hebrew phrase. “I pursue my enemies and seize them.”
With out naming events, the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross raised objections about how the hostage and detainee releases have been being carried out. The Pink Cross has been performing as a impartial middleman within the cease-fire transfers.
“Regardless of repeatedly calling for all transfers to be carried out in a dignified and personal method, extra should be accomplished by all sides, together with the mediators, to enhance future transfers,” it stated in a press release.
When 10 of the freed Palestinian prisoners arrived within the metropolis of Ramallah within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, they have been handed jackets to cowl the sweatshirts. Hassan Oweis, 47, a former member of the Palestinian safety companies, was a type of prisoners. His household had not seen him outdoors of jail since he was arrested in 2002, throughout an Israeli raid within the West Financial institution metropolis of Jenin.
Mr. Oweis was later convicted of a number of counts of terrorism, together with abetting two gunmen who killed two Israeli civilians and wounded scores in northern Israel in November 2001, in response to Israeli courtroom data. Mr. Oweis had denied the accusations, in response to the data.
To have fun his freedom, a crowd of well-wishers lifted Mr. Oweis onto their shoulders. “The primary time we see him with out bars,” stated his son Shadi, 25, who was a toddler when Mr. Oweis was arrested. “Essentially the most valuable second,” stated Mr. Oweis’s mom, Mariam.
However the temper additionally felt “painful and uneasy,” stated Ms. Oweis, 75.
The Oweis household has been displaced from their residence in Jenin, the place the Israeli army has been mounting an intensive operation in opposition to what it says are militants planning assaults on Israelis. 1000’s of Jenin residents have been compelled from their houses as Israeli troopers have battled Palestinian gunmen and demolished scores of buildings.
A number of days in the past, the cease-fire appeared susceptible to crumbling when Hamas threatened to delay the hostage launch. It accused Israel of violating the truce settlement, together with by not sending ample tents and different help into Gaza.
Israel threatened to renew the battle if Hamas didn’t relent. Mr. Trump escalated the risk, warning that each one of remaining hostages needed to be freed by midday on Saturday or “all hell goes to interrupt out.”
By Friday, Israel and Hamas signaled that the dispute had been resolved for now.
And Mr. Trump on Saturday appeared to distance himself from his ultimatum, posting on social media that, “Israel will now need to resolve” how one can deal with the deadline. “The US will again the choice they make!” he wrote.
Israeli leaders had not decisively embraced Mr. Trump’s ultimatum and have indicated that they’re prepared to proceed following the phrases of the primary section of the cease-fire.
Israel and Hamas have been supposed to begin negotiations on the second a part of the deal final week. However a lull in talks has prompted severe worries about the way forward for the multistage deal.
Reaching the second section would seemingly require painful concessions by one facet or each. Israel has vowed to not finish the battle till the top of Hamas’s rule in Gaza. For Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, there may be a political worth: His right-wing governing coalition may shatter if he breaks that vow.
For its half, Hamas has principally refused to surrender management of Gaza and to ship its leaders into exile. The group additionally worries that handing over the hostages, its most beneficial bargaining chips, would take away its finest insurance coverage in opposition to a renewed Israeli invasion.
To maintain the cease-fire, both Israel or Hamas would most certainly need to blink. For now, neither has accomplished so, leaving the way forward for the truce up within the air.
Patrick Kingsley, Lara Jakes and Michael Levenson contributed reporting.
