Gaza independent groups name three hostages to be released on Saturday
Israel is expected to release 369 Palestinian detainees in exchange, says Hamas
Published : 14 Feb 2025, 07:38 PM
Palestinian independent groups in Gaza announced they would release hostages Iair Horn, US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov on Saturday, in line with the ceasefire terms agreed with Israel.
The announcement followed intense mediation efforts by Egypt and Qatar to uphold the US-backed agreement reached last month, amid uncertainty over whether the ceasefire would hold.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office initially said Israel had "accepted" the list of hostages but was later revised to clarify that Israel had "received" the list, calling it a factual description rather than a policy position. Hamas stated that Israel was expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange.
The three hostages set for release on Saturday were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities targeted by Hamas gunmen during the October 7, 2023, attack. Iair Horn’s brother, Eitan, was taken at the same time and remains in captivity.
Hamas had previously threatened to halt hostage releases, accusing Israel of breaching the ceasefire by blocking aid deliveries to Gaza. Israel denied the claim and warned of renewed military action if Hamas reneged on the agreement.
Even before Hamas' threat, outrage in Israel had grown over the emaciated condition of hostages released the previous week and their public presentation before a crowd in Gaza before being handed over to the Red Cross.
Last month, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children, and elderly men, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The 42-day truce required Israeli forces to withdraw from some positions in Gaza and was intended to pave the way for further negotiations to secure the release of all remaining hostages, a full Israeli withdrawal, and an eventual end to the war, followed by Gaza’s reconstruction.
Doubts over the ceasefire deal intensified after former US President Donald Trump suggested permanently relocating Palestinians from Gaza and redeveloping the enclave under US control. His remarks were condemned by Palestinian groups, Arab nations, and critics, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who labeled the proposal as "ethnic cleansing."
A Devastated Gaza
Gaza now lies in ruins, with uncertainty over how it will be rebuilt.
Israel launched a military offensive in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken.
Since then, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry, and has left much of the enclave’s infrastructure destroyed, displacing most of its population.
Hamas has accused Israel of preventing the entry of vital shelter materials, leaving tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians exposed to winter conditions—an allegation Israel denies.
While international aid organizations report an increase in humanitarian aid deliveries since the ceasefire began, they stress that the supplies remain insufficient to meet the dire needs of the population.
