Three Gaza hostages set for release after ceasefire crisis abates

Three Gaza hostages set for release after ceasefire crisis abates

The Israeli military says it has sent reinforcements to the Gaza border area

Israel said Friday it had received the names of three hostages to be freed by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners this weekend, after a crisis in the ceasefire threatened to plunge Gaza back into war.

The hostages due for release Saturday are Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

They have been held by Gaza militants since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said that Israel would release "36 prisoners serving life sentences" for attacks against Israelis, with 24 of them expected to be deported, as well as 333 Gazans taken into custody during the war.

Israel had warned Hamas that it must free three living hostages this weekend or face a return to war, after the group said it would pause releases over what it described as Israeli violations of the truce.

The January 19 ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the territory, under which the Gaza Strip's population of more than two million would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.

Arab countries have come together to reject the 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.

- Red Cross calls for access -

The releases of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners have brought much-needed relief to families on both sides of the war, but the emaciated state of the Israeli captives freed last week sparked anger in Israel and beyond.

Some of the Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli custody have required medical treatment too, prompting the concern of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the exchanges.

"The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage," it said in a statement on Friday.

Following Hamas's staged handover last week, during which the captives were forced to speak, the ICRC appealed for future handovers to be more private and dignified.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem later defended the "civilised manner" in which last week's handover was conducted, and said that "the handover of the new batch of Zionist prisoners will be done in an appropriate manner".

Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel, who was released in a previous exchange nearly two weeks ago, described mistreatment during his captivity in a video message.

"I am a survivor. I was held for 484 days in unimaginable conditions, every single day felt like it could be my last," he said.

"I was starved and I was tortured, both physically and emotionally."

- 'Rooted in Gaza' -

Trump, whose proposal to take over Gaza and move its residents sparked global outcry, warned this week that "hell" would break loose if Hamas failed to release "all" remaining hostages by noon on Saturday.

Israel later insisted Hamas release "three living hostages" on Saturday or "the ceasefire will end".

If fighting resumes, Defence Minister Israel Katz said it would not just lead to the "defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages" -- Israel's stated objectives since the start of the war -- but also "allow the realisation of US President Trump's vision for Gaza".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Netanyahu Sunday on the Gaza truce.

Hamas said late on Friday that it expected talks on a second phase of the ceasefire to begin early next week.

The next phase aims to secure the release of remaining hostages and lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war.

"We expect the second phase of the ceasefire negotiations to begin early next week," Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

Arab countries have put on a rare show of unity in their rejection of Trump's proposal for Gaza.

After the Riyadh summit, the Arab League will convene in Cairo on February 27 to discuss the issue.

Jordan is already home to more than two million Palestinian refugees. More than half of the country's population of 11 million is of Palestinian origin.

Egypt said it would put forward its own proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza under a framework that would allow for the Palestinians to remain in the territory.

For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel's creation in 1948.

"We are here, deeply rooted in Gaza -- the resilient, besieged and unbreakable Gaza," said Gaza City resident Abu Mohamed al-Husari.

Hamas's 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.

Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including at least 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,239 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.

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