(JTA) — As Israel soberly marks Day 500 on Monday since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, three more hostages are back in their families arms.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American Israeli, Iair Horn, an Argentine Israeli, and Sasha Trufanov, a Russian Israeli, were freed from captivity in Gaza on Saturday, or Day 498. All three were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border. Dekel-Chen and Horn were held by Hamas, while Trufanov was held by Islamic Jihad, another Gaza terror group.
The release, which like previous ones followed a choreographed handover ceremony run by the terror groups, happened after a week when the Israel-Hamas cease-fire appeared to be on the verge of falling apart.
On the previous Saturday, three released hostages came back emaciated and in visibly poor health, sparking outrage in Israel. Hamas then said it would postpone further hostage releases, accusing Israel of violating the cease-fire’s terms. After that, U.S. President Donald Trump called on Hamas to release all hostages by Saturday, a demand Israel endorsed. That call followed Trump’s proposal to depopulate Gaza and have the United States take it over.
But following further talks, the sides decided to proceed with the deal they had agreed on last month.
The hostages released Saturday appeared to be in better health than those released the previous week.
Dekel-Chen returned to his three daughters, including his youngest, who was born two months after he was taken.
Trufanov came back to news that his father was killed on Oct. 7, 2023. Horn’s brother is still held captive in Gaza.
In exchange for the three men, Israel released more than 300 Palestinian security prisoners.
There are 73 hostages remaining in Gaza, approximately half of whom are confirmed to be dead.
Fourteen hostages are yet to be released in the deal’s first stage, eight of whom are confirmed to be dead.
It remains to be seen whether the cease-fire will proceed to its later phases, in which the rest of the hostages would be released in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, and Israel would fully withdraw from Gaza.
Massive demonstrations in support of the hostages are expected across Israel on Monday to mark Day 500.