Khan Yunis (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian militants released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap despite fears the Gaza truce deal was near collapse.

An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas gunmen parade the hostages onto a stage before a crowd in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn were made to make statements into a microphone before being handed over to the Red Cross and taken back home to Israeli territory, after being held for more than 16 months.

Clutching gift bags given by their captors, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.

Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed Israel’s Ofer Prison and were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist said.

More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip, according to another AFP journalist.

Saturday’s swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume the war if it did.

Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

The latest release led to tears of joy among friends and family members.

“Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and begin a new path,” Trupanov’s family said in a statement.

Dekel-Chen’s wife, Avital, said in a call to her sister aired by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster: “My breath has returned. He looks so handsome.”

Dekel-Chen finally learned the name of his youngest daughter, born two months after his capture.

- Next phase -

Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians freed by Israel reached Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, where they made victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd.

In the West Bank, one freed inmate, Amir Abu Radaha, said: “I’ve returned to my family and I’ve returned anew, born again.”

Charged with intentionally causing death and being a member of an illegal organisation, according to Israel’s justice ministry records, Abu Radaha had spent almost 32 years in jail.

Israel confirmed it had released a total of 369 prisoners.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, those to be freed included 36 serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal.

The deportees, with shaven heads, later arrived by bus on the Egyptian side of the border, an AFP correspondent said.

Images broadcast on Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners ahead of their release wearing sweatshirts featuring the prison service logo, a Star of David, and the slogan: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.”

Negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire, meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war, are expected to begin next week.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top backer and one of the truce mediators, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the truce.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement after Saturday’s hostage release that the United States “must compel” Israel to adhere to the truce deal “if it truly cares about the prisoners’ (hostages) lives”.

Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, said that even though efforts continue to bring home the remaining captives, the military is “simultaneously preparing offensive plans”.

An Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, warned in a statement against the deal’s “collapse”.

- ‘Welcome back’ -

A crowd gathered in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv to watch a live feed of the exchange. Many carried Israeli flags and posters with messages including “Sorry and welcome back” and “Complete the ceasefire”.

Last week’s release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity.

There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody after several were hospitalised following their release last week.

The Red Crescent said four of those released on Saturday were also transferred to hospital in the West Bank.

After Saturday’s swap, the Red Cross said more must be done by all sides for “dignified” hostage-prisoner releases.

The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory’s population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.

Arab countries have come together to reject Trump’s plan.

A joint statement from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem also said Gazans “must not be forced into exile”.

Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

burs/it/ami