Israel announces names of three hostages set for Saturday release from Gaza

Israel has announced the names of the three hostages set to be released Saturday, in what would be the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month.

Israel has announced the names of the three hostages set to be released Saturday, in what would be the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month. Israel said Friday that Palestinian militants will release American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, Russian-Israeli Alexandre Troufanov and Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn. A release of 369 Palestinian prisoners by Israel is expected to follow, Hamas’ Prisoner Media Office said. Troufanov was kidnapped at the age of 27 from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023 along with his grandmother, Irena Tati, his mother Lena Troufanov and girlfriend Sapir Cohen, who were all released in a previous deal. His father Vitaly was killed during the attack. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which kidnapped him, has released several videos of him in captivity. Dekel-Chen was 35 years old when he was kidnapped while trying to defend his Nir Oz from Hamas attackers. His wife Avital was pregnant with their third child during the attack. His third daughter was born while he was in captivity and turned one in December.