BRINK OF COLLAPSE
Hamas and Israel are implementing the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire that nearly collapsed last week.
Israel had warned Hamas it must free three living hostages by the weekend or face a renewed offensive after the militant group said it would pause releases over what it described as Israeli truce violations.
Netanyahu credited “President Trump’s firm stance” with ensuring Saturday’s releases went ahead.
The freed hostages – Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, 29, and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn, 46 – returned to emotional reunions with their families.
Flanked by Hamas fighters, they carried gift bags from their captors and urged further exchanges.
In a video released by the Israeli government, Dekel-Chen’s wife, Avital, told him the name of their daughter who had been born two months after his abduction in Oct 2023.
“That’s perfect,” the 36-year-old replied.
Israel freed 369 Palestinian prisoners, mostly Gazans detained during the war, but some were serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis.
Footage aired by Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners in sweatshirts bearing a Star of David and the slogan: “We will not forget and we will not forgive”.
They tore them off upon reaching Gaza and burned them in a bonfire at the reception point in Khan Yunis.
Ibrahim, 61, a freed prisoner who declined to give his full name, said he was shocked by Gaza’s devastation.
Arrested in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, he said he still did not know why he had been jailed for nine months.
Since the truce began last month, 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Out of 251 people seized in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
