The Islamic terrorist group Hamas confirmed on Friday the names of the three Israelis it will release tomorrow as part of the sixth exchange of hostages for Palestinian terrorists held captive by the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
They are the Israeli of Argentine origin Iair Horn, kidnapped along with his brother on October 7, 2023; the Russian-Israeli Alexander Trufanov, 29 years old; and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36 years old, of American descent.
Hamas made the announcement after confirming yesterday that it would go ahead with Saturday's releases, which had been in doubt after the Islamic terror group said earlier this week that it would pause them, falsely alleging Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Israel, which had not yet officially responded to the terrorist group's announcement, published the list of names of the three hostages shortly after, suggesting that the agreement is still in place.
Iair, 46, was kidnapped along with his brother Eitan, whose name is not included in the list of 33 hostages to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19.
The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons, which represents the majority of the relatives of those kidnapped on 7 October, welcomed the news of the release of the three hostages.
So far, the agreement has led to the release of 16 Israelis, five Thai hostages and more than XNUMX Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli jails.
In addition, the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has increased dramatically and thousands of displaced people have been able to return to their homes in the north of the enclave.
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article