Hamas Releases Three Israeli Hostages After 498 Days’ Captivity as Hostages-For-Terrorists Deal Continues
Hamas on Saturday released three Israeli hostages after 498 days of captivity in the sixth round of hostages-for-terrorists swap since a deal was reached mid-January. The hostages release are: Israeli-Argentine dual citizen Iair Horn (46), U.S.-Israeli citizen Sagui Dekel Chen (36), and Russian-Israeli national Alexandre Troufanov (29).
“Three returning hostages are currently being accompanied by IDF special forces and ISA (Israel Security Agency) forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment,” the military confirmed in a press release Saturday morning.
The freed hostages were welcomed by the Israeli soldiers who been fighting for their release for fifteen long months. “The commanders and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces salute and embrace the returning hostages as they make their way home to the State of Israel,” the IDF statement said.
Hostages were reunited with their family members at the Re’im IDF base near Gaza, media reports said.
Besides torturing and starving the hostages, Hamas kept them in the dark about the fate of their family and loved ones.
“During the debriefing process, Sagui Dekel-Chen was informed of the birth of his daughter, Shahar, who was born four months after he was taken hostage. Dekel-Chen reacted with immense joy, IDF officials said,” the Israeli news website YNET reported. “Officials also confirmed that Trupanov was informed during his journey back to Israel that his father, Vitaliy Trupanov, was murdered by Hamas during the October 7 attack.”
The hostages were released after President Donald Trump earlier this week appeared to give Israel a free hand in dealing with Hamas if all captives kidnapped on October 7, 2023 were not released by Saturday. “Let hell break out,” President Trump said Monday, leaving the decision on resuming the military operation to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed U.S. president’s sentiment, vowing to unleash “intense fighting” if all hostages were not released by this weekend. The remarks came in the backdrop of horrific images of three frail and emaciated male hostages released by Gaza last weekend.
Israel hits back at Hamas propaganda, terrorists set for release made to wear t-shirts saying ‘we will not forget or forgive’
Like the highly-choreographed hostage release in the past, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror groups used the occasion to stage another propaganda event, with armed terrorists flanking the frail captives and forcing them to read out their messages as part of psychological warfare against Israel.
“Masked Hamas militants has handed over three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis,” the France24 TV channel noted. The hostages “were paraded on the stage and told to address the crowd before their handover to the Red Cross.”
Hamas used the hostage photo-op for yet another twisted bid to pressure Israeli public into submitting to its demands, the Jerusalem Post reports:
Hamas placed a picture of hostage Matan Zangauker and his mother on the stage, where three hostages about to be released were forced to speak on Saturday, with the caption “Time is running out.”Zangauker’s image appeared beside an hourglass, an symbol used in many of Hamas’s psychological terror videos of the hostages.His mother, Einav, confirmed in September that her son was alive and being kept alongside ten other living hostages. (…)In addition to the photo of Zangauker, Hamas placed several banners in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. Notably, one of the banners read “no migration except to Jerusalem” – a likely reference to Trump’s relocation plans.
Israel finally countered the Hamas propaganda by making the terrorists slated for release today wear t-shirts emblazoned with the Start of David symbol and carrying the Arabic message: “We will not forget or forgive.”
The Times of Israel reported:
In an apparent tit-for-tat for Hamas’s hostage release theatrics, the Israel Prison Service has put on its own spectacle.It now shares that it has dressed the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners set for release today in shirts featuring its logo, a Start of David and the sentence in Arabic: “We will not forget or forgive.”
Several murderous terrorists to be freed in hostages-for-terrorists swap
The freedom of hostages on Saturday was again secured at a painfully high price. Israel will release 369 convicted Palestinian terrorists in exchange for these three hostages. Terrorists to be freed include Ahmad Barghouti, who is serving 13 life sentences for plotting waves of suicide bombings.
“Barghouti’s conviction includes multiple charges: weapons possession, membership in an unauthorized organization, attempted murder through hostile actions, engagement in hostile activities, and murder through hostile actions,” the Israel Hayom newspaper observed. “His actions resulted in the deaths of 12 Israelis during Second Intifada suicide attacks, including the devastating bombing at Tel Aviv’s Seafood Market restaurant.”
Another murderous terrorist to go free, Mansour Sharim, had received 14 life-terms for “numerous attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada,” a Palestinian campaign of terror waged between 2000 and 2005, the newspaper added.
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