Israeli hostages, jailed Palestinians set for release after truce crisis

GAZA CITY: Gaza militants are due to release three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 369 Palestinians in Israeli custody, the sixth swap of a truce that came close to collapse this week.

Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of violating the January 19 ceasefire, with the Palestinian group saying it would pause releases and Israel threatening the resumption of war in the Gaza Strip.

But on Friday both sides signalled that the hostage release scheduled for Saturday would go ahead.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named the hostages due for release as Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn, who have been held by Gaza militants since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said that Israel was to release 369 inmates in exchange, with 24 of them expected to be deported.

The vast majority, 333 people, are “prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7”, the group said.

After the crisis that appeared to bring the fragile truce to a breaking point, Hamas said on Friday it expected talks on a second phase of the ceasefire to begin early next week.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top backer and has been involved in mediation efforts during the war, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Netanyahu on the Gaza truce.

Last week’s release sparked anger in Israel and beyond, with the emaciated state of the freed Israeli hostages sparking concern over conditions in captivity.

Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel, who was released in a previous exchange, said he was “starved and… tortured, both physically and emotionally” during his captivity.

There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody after some prisoners required medical treatment on their release.

‘Power games’

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 would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.

For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel’s creation in 1948.

Arab countries have come together to reject the plan, and Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a summit on the issue.

Trump warned this week that “hell” would break loose if Hamas failed to release “all” remaining hostages by noon on Saturday.

Israel later insisted Hamas release “three living hostages” on Saturday or “the ceasefire will end”.

If fighting resumes, Defence Minister Israel Katz said it would not just lead to the “defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages” — Israel’s stated objectives since the start of the war — but also “allow the realisation of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza”.

Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said despite their public disputes, Israel and Hamas were still interested in maintaining the truce. “They’re just playing power games,” she said.

Arab countries have put on a rare show of unity in their rejection of Trump’s proposal for Gaza.

After the Riyadh summit, the Arab League will convene in Cairo on February 27 to discuss the same issue.

Second phase

Under the terms of the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, negotiations for the second phase were due to start on February 3.

Netanyahu had sent negotiators to Doha days later, but the delegation was not mandated to discuss phase two, which is meant to lay out steps towards ending the war.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP on Friday that “we expect the second phase of the ceasefire negotiations to begin early next week”.

Another source familiar with the talks told AFP that “mediators informed Hamas that they hope to start the second phase of negotiations next week in Doha”.