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Hamas released three more Israeli men in a prison sentence in Gaza on Saturday after a ceasefire that has become increasingly fragile.
The Israelis were handed over to the ICRC at a meticulous ceremony held by Khan Younis, a mostly destroyed city and Hamas stronghold in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli officials, they were taken hostage from their homes in the attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants, and according to Israeli officials, about 1,200 people were killed.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Troufanov and Iair Horn are physically better than the group of men released last weekend The hostages are in better health. During the ceremony, Hamas fighters showed off their weapons and uniforms they captured from Israeli military bases during a 2023 cross-border raid.
Israel was scheduled to release more than 350 Palestinian prisoners under the terms of the ceasefire late Saturday.
The agreement almost collapsed after Hamas claimed Israel had violated the ceasefire as it blocked Gaza, which entered heavy machinery Gaza to clean up rubble and move houses to accommodate thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians.
Hamas threatens to delay the release of hostages if Israel does not promote the requirements of the ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the forces near the Israeli border in Gaza and vowed to restart the attack on Hamas if the release did not go as planned.
In the next few days, Arab media broadcasted images of some heavy machinery entering through Egypt, and Hamas agreed on Friday to continue the staggered hostage release.
As winter storms hit coastal enclaves, demand for Gaza sanctuaries has become increasingly urgent. About 2MN people are displaced and live in the ruins of the tent city and its nearby ruins.
The vast majority of Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released on Saturday were not tried in Israeli prisons after being detained in Israeli prisons during the 15 months of the war. According to local officials, more than 48,000 people have been killed in besieged areas since the war began.
The third-phase ceasefire is in a transition period between the first and second phases, during which negotiations will end the war.
During the first six-week period (which will end in early March), Hamas must release 33 Israeli hostages, including all children, men and women over 50 years of age. By Saturday, it had released 24 people. Many of the remaining 73 hostages were considered dead.
The group initially took about 250 hostages on October 7, 2023. The team released about 120 people in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in a short ceasefire in November 2023.
Hamas will only begin to release captured male soldiers, and if negotiations succeed, convert a temporary ceasefire into a permanent truce, the bodies of the deceased will be captured. That would require Israel to withdraw its troops permanently.
The talks will begin last week, but Israel has not sent any senior teams to Qatar or Egypt, which are mediating the deal with the United States.
The framework for the ceasefire is under increasing pressure due to operational disputes, and he intends to take over Gaza due to repeated assertions by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump’s proposal could lead to mass deportation of about 2.3 million Palestinian civilians, which has inspired Netanyahu, who is increasingly reluctant to end the war with Hamas .
Trump hosted Jordanian King Abdullah at the White House this week and repeated his assertion that Jordan and Egypt would accept refugees despite widespread condemnation of the program in the Arab world.
