KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Hamas completed the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners on Saturday with just over two weeks remaining in their fragile Gaza ceasefire’s initial phase, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Israel to begin a Mideast tour.
Israelis expressed relief as the three hostages — Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn, 46; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander Troufanov, 29 — seemed in better condition than the emaciated ones freed a week ago.
Troufanov was informed of his father’s death in the Hamas-led Oct. 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 militants made the pale, worn men 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 had threatened to derail the ceasefire, but Hamas said Thursday it would move ahead with the planned exchange after it said mediators Egypt and Qatar pledged to “remove all hurdles” so Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into devastated Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove Gaza’s over 2 million Palestinians and settle them elsewhere in the region also shook the truce. Rubio will hear more about that, starting with his meeting Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump on Saturday posted on social media that “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. 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 transported 333 others to Gaza.
The ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. Before Saturday, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners had been freed during the truce’s first phase.
There have not been substantive negotiations over the ceasefire’s second phase, in which Hamas would release all remaining hostages in return for ending the war.