Hamas Releases Three Hostages, 369 Palestinians To Be Freed

Doha, Qatar: Hamas handed three Israeli hostages over to the Red Cross on Saturday in an exchange that is also set to see the release of 369 Palestinians from Israeli custody, the latest such swap under an ongoing truce deal.

An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas men take the hostages - Alexander Trufanov, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Yair Horn – onto a stage in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, where they were told to address the crowd before their handover to the Red Cross.

The three men, flanked by Hamas fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.

The release, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after fears last week that the deal between Israel and Hamas was near collapse. But on Friday both sides signalled that Saturday's swap would go ahead.

Dozens of Hamas fighters lined up around the stage bearing the logo of the group's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, as Palestinian nationalist music played.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said Israel was to release 369 inmates in exchange, with 24 of them expected to be deported.

Almost all of the rest are "prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7", the group said.

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