The China Mail - Hamas, Israel complete sixth hostage-prisoner swap under Gaza truce

An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas gunmen parade the hostages onto a stage in front of a crowd in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, where they were made to make statements into a microphone before being handed over to the Red Cross and taken back to Israeli territory.

Clutching gift bags given by their captors and certificates to mark the end of their captivity, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.

Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed Israel's Ofer Prison and was greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist said.

More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip, according to another AFP journalist.

Saturday's swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume the war if it did.

The three hostages -- Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn -- had been held by Gaza militants since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war 16 months ago.

Friends and family members of the hostages shed tears of joy at the sight of their loved ones on Saturday.

"Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and begin a new path," Trupanov's family said in a statement.

Dekel-Chen's wife, Avital, said in a call to her sister aired by Israel's Kan public broadcaster: "My breath has returned. He looks so handsome."

- Next phase -

Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians freed by Israel reached Khan Yunis, where they threw up victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd, an AFP reporter said.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group, Israel was to release 333 Gazans who were taken into custody during the war, as well as 36 prisoners serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal.

Israel confirmed it had released a total of 369 prisoners.

Images broadcast on Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners ahead of their release wearing sweatshirts featuring the prison service logo, a Star of David, and the slogan: "We will not forget and we will not forgive."

After the deal had appeared to be on the brink of collapse, a Hamas official on Friday said the group expected talks on a second phase of the ceasefire to begin early next week. Another source familiar with the talks offered a similar timeline.

The negotiations on the second phase are meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel's top backer and one of the truce mediators, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the truce.

An Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, warned in a statement against the "collapse" of the ongoing agreement, calling on the parties to "continue to use this momentum to make a swift and responsible agreement for everyone" still held in Gaza.

- 'Welcome back' -

A crowd gathered in Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv to watch a live feed of the exchange, with many carrying Israeli flags and posters with messages including "Sorry and welcome back" and "Complete the ceasefire".

Last week's release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity.

There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody after several were hospitalised following their release last week. The Red Crescent said four of those released on Saturday were also transferred to hospital in the West Bank.

The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory's population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.

Arab countries have come together to reject Trump's plan, and Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a summit on the issue.

A joint statement from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem also said Gazans "must not be forced into exile".

The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Netanyahu's office said shortly after Saturday's release that it was working with the United States to free the remaining hostages "as quickly as possible", without offering specifics.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

S.Davis--ThChM