Khan Yunis:
Palestinian militants released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners liberated by Israel, which completed the last swap, despite the fear that the Gaza Loeve -Deal almost collapsed.
A AFP journalist saw the masked Hamas -armed men's parade of the hostages on a stage for a crowd in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, where they were made to make statements in a microphone before they were transferred to the Red Cross and returned to The Israeli territory.
Keeping gift bags by their abductors and certificates to mark the end of their captivity, the three men, flanked by hunters, called for the completion of further hostages under the cease -the -the time.
Not long after, a bus load of Palestinian prisoners left Israeli prison of Israel and was greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied city of Ramallah in the western jank, said an AFP journalist.
More buses took prisoners from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip, according to another AFP journalist.
The SWAP of Saturday, the sixth since the truce came into force on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause hostages about alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume war if it was.
The three hostages-Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Tranpanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn-Keren held by Gaza militants since Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023 on Israel who encouraged the war 16 months ago.
Friends and relatives of the hostages throw tears of joy when they see their loved ones on Saturday.
“Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and start a new path,” said Tranpanov's family in a statement.
The wife of Dekel-Chen, Avital, said in a call to her sister broadcast by the Public Omroep of Israel: “My breath has returned. He looks so clever.”
Next phase
Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians reached free by Israel Khan Yunis, where they surrendered victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd, a AFP reporter said.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club Advocacy Group, Israel would release 333 Gazanen who were taken into custody during the war, as well as 36 prisoners who sit out lifelong penalties, 24 of whom were due to deportation under the conditions of the Armistice.
Israel confirmed that it had released a total of 369 prisoners.
Images broadcast on Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners prior to their release with sweatshirts with the logo of the prison service, a star of David and the slogan: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.”
After the deal had remained on the edge of collapse, a Hamas officer said on Friday that the group expected conversations in a second phase of the cease -the Fires would start early next week. Another source that was familiar with the conversations offered a similar timeline.
The negotiations on the second phase are intended to take steps in the direction of a more permanent end of the war.
State Secretary Marco Rubio of the United States, whose country is the best backer of Israel and one of the truce, will arrive in Israel on Saturday for expected conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Armistice.
An Israeli campaign group, the high -rise and missages and missing families forum, warned in a statement against the “collapse” of the current agreement and called on the parties to continue to use this momentum to make a fast and responsible agreement for everyone “Still in Gaza.
'Welcome back'
A crowd gathered in the commercial center of Israel of Tel Aviv to view a live feed of the exchange, with many with Israeli flags and posters with messages such as “Sorry and welcome back” and “Completely Stakes -the Fire “.
Last week's release led to anger in Israel and then after the liberated hostages were paraded on stage, with their emitted condition concerned concern about the circumstances in captivity.
There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli detention after several after their release had been admitted to the hospital last week. The Red Crescent said that four of those were also transferred to the hospital on the West Bank on Saturday.
It has been striking -Fires has been enormous pressure since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip, including the population of the territory of more than two million people to Egypt or Jordan.
Arab countries have come together to reject Trump's plan, and Saudi Arabia will organize the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates for a top about the issue on Thursday.
A joint explanation of the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem also said that Gazanen “should not be forced into exile”.
The attack of 7 October 2023 on Israel resulted in the death of 1,211 people, mainly citizens, according to an AFP counting of Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 70 of whom stay in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli army says it is dead.
The office of Netanyahu said shortly after the release on Saturday that it collaborated with the United States to “free the remaining hostages” as quickly as possible, without offering details.
Israel's retaliation campaign killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them citizens, according to figures from the Health Minister in the territory run by Hamas that the United Nations are reliable.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by Our staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
