Israel and Hamas completed the sixth exchange of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, with just over two weeks remaining in the initial phase of their fragile Gaza ceasefire.
Israelis expressed relief as the three hostages, Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn, 46; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov, 29, appeared to be in better condition than the emaciated ones freed a week ago.
Before being reunited with family, Troufanov was informed of his father’s death in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the 16-month war.
Chen was meeting his youngest daughter for the first time. Horn’s brother, Eitan, remains in captivity.
Armed, masked militants made the pale, worn men walk on to a stage and speak to a crowd before handing them over to the Red Cross in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The 369 Palestinian prisoners were later released.
A tense dispute earlier in the week threatened to derail the ceasefire and renew the fighting in Gaza.
US President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the territory’s more than two million Palestinians and settle them elsewhere in the region also shook the truce.
But Hamas said on Thursday it would move ahead with the planned exchange after it said mediators Egypt and Qatar had pledged to “remove all hurdles” to ensure Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into devastated Gaza.
Mr Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the hostages “seem to be in good shape”, adding: “Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!”
Israel has not imposed such a deadline, and it is not part of the ceasefire deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would convene the cabinet as soon as possible to decide on next steps.
In the occupied West Bank, released prisoners were greeted by a cheering crowd.
Some appeared gaunt, and the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said four were taken for treatment. Buses took 333 others to Gaza.
The ceasefire took effect on January 19. Before Saturday, 21 hostages and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners had been freed during the truce’s first phase.
The ceasefire faces a bigger challenge with the phase concluding in early March.
There have not been substantive negotiations over the second phase, in which Hamas would release all remaining hostages in return for ending the war.
The three hostages had been abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community hit hard in the October 7 attack.
Horn was abducted with his brother, who is not expected to be released in the ceasefire’s first phase.
“Now, we can breathe a little. Our Iair is home after surviving hell in Gaza,” his family said. “Now, we need to bring Eitan back so our family can truly breathe.”
Chen was working outside when militants stormed in. His wife, Avital Dekel Chen, hid in a safe room with their daughters.
She gave birth to their third daughter two months later. She told Israeli media she was overwhelmed with happiness to see her husband back in Israel, where he was meeting his youngest daughter, Shachar.
Troufanov, whose father was killed, was taken hostage with his grandmother, mother and girlfriend.
The women were released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023. His family said they were “overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude” on Saturday.
Russia’s government also expressed gratitude.
Of the 251 people abducted during the October 7 attack, 73 remain in Gaza, about half believed to be dead. Nearly all are men, including Israeli soldiers.
Concern has grown about their condition.
One hostage, Keith Siegel, 65, said on Friday in a video message addressed to Mr Trump that his captors treated him worse as the war intensified, kicking him, spitting on him and holding him without water or light.
The released Palestinian prisoners included 36 serving life sentences for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis.
They include Ahmed Barghouti, 48, a close aide of militant leader and Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti.
Israel sentenced Ahmed Barghouti on charges that he dispatched suicide bombers during the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s in attacks that killed Israeli civilians.
Twenty-four of those serving life sentences will be exiled abroad, while 12 returned to the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
The Israeli Prison Service released the Palestinians in sweatshirts emblazoned with a Star of David and the phrase “Never forgive, never forget” in Arabic.
Some of those released into Gaza threw their sweatshirts on the ground and burned them.
