Three Israeli hostages freed in Gaza, Israel releases 369 Palestinians in exchange
(VOVWORLD) - Hamas released three Israeli hostages in Gaza on Saturday and Israel freed some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange, after mediators helped avert a collapse of the fragile ceasefire.
 Israeli hostage Iair Horn, escorted by Hamas militants, Khan Younis, February 15, 2025. (REUTERS) |
The three Israelis - Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov - were led onto a stage with Palestinian Hamas militants armed with automatic rifles standing on each side of them at the site in Khan Younis, before they were taken back into Israel by Israeli forces.
Buses carrying some of the hundreds of Palestinian freed prisoners and detainees, arrived later at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Some of the Palestinians were serving long prison terms for involvement in suicide bombings and other attacks that killed dozens of Israelis during the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. Others were jailed for killing Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.