Three Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian detainees freed after dispute threatened Gaza ceasefire

Three Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza by Palestinian militants on Saturday, in the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month.

Three Israeli hostages have been freed from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas after a dispute this week threatened to derail the deal. The hostages - American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, Russian-Israeli Alexandre Troufanov and Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn - were released in Khan Younis, southern Gaza in the sixth such exchange under the truce. They were seen exiting vehicles surrounded by militants, who ushered the hostages on stage, where the captives addressed the crowd. The men appeared to be in better health than the three hostages released the previous week, whose condition drew condemnation from Israeli officials. The three were given what appeared to be bags carrying memorabilia. Horn was seen carrying what appeared to be small hourglasses and Troufanov appeared to face some difficulty climbing down the stairs. Following his return Dekel-Chen was seen walking through Sheba Medical Center in Israel with his wife Avital on Saturday to meet his sisters, Ofir and Dotan, in footage released by the Israeli government. “There’s no place like home,” Dekel-Chen can be heard telling medical staff.