Hamas Frees Three Israeli Hostages in Gaza, Including Sacha Trupanov and Yaïr Horn

Hamas freed three Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, February 15, in what LINFO.re said was the sixth prisoner exchange since the start of the truce.

“A protest rally was organized in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, by released prisoners who had been displaced to the enclave from the West Bank, to demand lifting the ban on their travel abroad and meeting their families”

Al-Jazeera Net

LINFO.re named the released men as Sacha Trupanov, a 29-year-old Israeli-Russian, Yaïr Horn, a 46-year-old Israeli-Argentine, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 36-year-old Israeli-American.

Al-Jazeera Net

The three men were displayed on a podium in Khan Younes in the southern Gaza Strip, surrounded by Hamas fighters and Islamic Jihad, and were forced to say a few words in Hebrew before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

LINFO.re said the ICRC subsequently handed them over to the Israeli army, which brought them back to Israel.

LINFO.re also said Israel must release 369 Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire agreement that came into force on January 19.

Ouest-France reported that the ceasefire in Gaza included the release of the Israeli soldier Agam Berger, who was released by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip and arrived in Israel after being returned to the army by the Croix-Rouge.

Ouest-France said Agam Berger, 20 years old, was captured on 7 October 2023 while doing her military service near the Gaza Strip and was handed over to the Croix-Rouge at Jabalia in the north of the territory.

Jarida al-Quds

Ouest-France added that seven other hostages were to be released this Thursday, including Arbel Yehud, a civilian of 29 years taken hostage at the kibboutz Nir Oz, and Gadi Moses, a Germano-Israélien of 80 years.

Ouest-France said the Hamas warned that the next releases could be compromised, accusing Israel of retarding the entry of the humanitarian aid to Gaza planned by the truce agreement, while Israel denied it.

Ouest-France also stated that a fourth exchange was planned Saturday, with the release of three men, all in life, according to the calendar announced Wednesday by Israel.

In Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, dozens of freed prisoners who were forcibly exiled from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip gathered for a protest demanding family reunification.

جريدة القدس said participants rejected the ongoing policy of isolation and travel bans and called for international action to lift restrictions and enable direct contact with families they said they had not seen for many years.

Speakers at the rally described the exiled prisoners as 'Generals of Patience' and said the protest was a 'human cry' emanating from the heart of suffering to reach the world's conscience.

جريدة القدس reported that the Palestinian Bar Association declared that decisions of forced exile constitute war crimes and said these practices violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Al-Jazeera Net described a solidarity and humanitarian protest in Khan Younis organized by released prisoners displaced from the West Bank, where a spokesman for the Palestinian Bar Association stressed their rejection of the Israeli occupation’s deportation decisions as war crimes and crimes against humanity.