Gaza ceasefire: Hamas hands over 3 hostages to Israel

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Israel's air force had carried out a strike on southern Lebanon.

"A short while ago, [the Israeli] air force conducted a precise and intelligence-based strike on a central terrorist in Hezbollah's aerial unit in the area of southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

"The terrorist was targeted after repeatedly violating the understandings between Israel and Lebanon over the past few weeks," the statement said, accusing a Hezbollah militant of being involved in the launch of drones toward Israeli territory.

Also on Saturday, Lebanon's state-run NNA news agency reported that two people were killed and four injured in an Israeli strike on the area of Iqlim al-Tuffah in the south of the country.

In a later report, NNA said a separate strike killed two and injured five in the southern town of Arab Salim.

An Israeli drone struck the outskirts of the town of Ainata in the south of Lebanon, Lebanese media said.

The strike caused no injuries, according to Lebanon's state-run NNA news agency.

It said that drones and surveillance aircraft continued to fly over the area "at low altitude."

A ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group came into effect on November 27.

Under the deal, Israel's army was to withdraw over a 60-day period and Hezbollah was to fall back behind the Litani River. Lebanon's military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers.

The deadline was later extended until February 18.

Israel has conducted several strikes on Lebanon during the ceasefire period, claiming to target sites belonging to Hezbollah over the group's alleged violations of the deal.

Russia thanked the Hamas militant group for the release of Russian-Israeli dual citizen Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov.

"Moscow welcomes the freeing of Alexander Troufanov and expresses its gratitude to the Hamas leadership for taking this decision," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russia's state RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Hamas handed Troufanov over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip earlier on Saturday alongside two other hostages as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.

In exchange, Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners from two Israeli prisons.

The Israeli Prison Service confirmed on Saturday that it had freed 369 prisoners from the Ofer prison, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and the Kziot prison near Gaza,  after first transferring them "from several prisons across the country."

Most were transported to Gaza but some also to the occupied West Bank.

Among those released in Ramallah on Saturday was Amir Abu Radaha, who had spent more than three decades in jail.

Radaha's sister told the French AFP news agency she had not slept in the night, as she had "kept thinking about whether Amir would be released this time or not."

Radaha himself said his release marked "a new birthday" for him.

Thirty-six of the prisoners released had been serving life sentences, including 24 who were to be transferred abroad under the terms of the truce deal.

Families of the three Israeli hostages have issued statements welcoming the return home of their loved ones after more than 16 months in captivity.

Avital Dekel-Chen, the wife of 36-year-old Sagui Dekel-Chen, told Israeli media that every Saturday for the past month her daughters have asked her: "Is Daddy coming home today?"

She said she was overwhelmed with happiness to see him back in Israel, where he will meet his youngest daughter, Shachar, for the first time.

"Our hearts ache for everything he missed, but now he's here, unlike many others," the family said in a statement issued by a forum of the relatives of the hostages.

Avital Dekel-Chen was pregnant at the time of the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and her husband was abducted from a kibbutz.

Relatives of 29-year-old Sasha Troufanov said in a statement they were "overwhelmed by emotions and gratitude for Sasha's return home after 498 long and agonizing days in captivity." Troufanov's father was killed during the October 7 attack.

He was taken hostage along with his grandmother, mother and girlfriend. The three women were released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023.

The family of Iair Horn, 46, expressed relief at his release. "Our Iair is home after surviving hell in Gaza," they said in a statement. 

But they said that for their relief to be complete, Iair's brother, Eitan, who was also abducted, needed to come home too.

Eitan is still being held hostage in Gaza and is not included on the list of hostages expected to be freed in the first stage of the current ceasefire.

Israel has begun freeing prisoners from Israeli jails on Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Four were taken to hospital for medical examinations upon arrival in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, the Red Crescent said.

"Our teams are transferring four released [Palestinian] prisoners from the location of reception to the hospital," it said in a statement.

Israel is to release altogether 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday in the sixth hostage-prisoner exchange since the ceasefire came into force on January 19.

That includes 36 Palestinians serving life sentences for deadly attacks. However, because of the severity of some offenses, 24 of them are not to return home but be taken abroad instead, according to the agreement.

Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad already freed three Israeli hostages on Saturday under the deal.

Israel has said three hostages were returned after being handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.

The three were released in what is the sixth hostage-prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas under the terms of a January 19 ceasefire deal.

The men — Iair Horn, 46, a dual citizen of Israel and Argentina; Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, who is American-Israeli; and
Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29, who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship — were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities near the Gaza Strip that was targeted in the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7, 2023.

Armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have paraded three Israeli hostages due to be released on Saturday on a stage at the Gaza site selected for their liberation.

Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn were led over the stage in Khan Younis before being handed over to the Red Cross, which had earlier sent vehicles to the site.

The area had previously been decorated with Palestinian flags and the banners of militant factions.

A peacekeeper with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was wounded during an attack in Beirut on Friday night. 

The outgoing deputy force commander of the UN peacekeeping force suffered injuries when a convoy transporting the peacekeepers to Beirut airport was "violently attacked" and a vehicle was torched, UNIFIL said. 

Supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group have blockaded the road to Lebanon's only airport for two straight nights after two Iranian planes were stopped from landing in the capital.

The move came after the Israeli military accused Iran of using civilian flights to smuggle cash to Hezbollah.

"We demand a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice," UNIFIL said on Saturday.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has vowed to punish those behind the attack.

A statement from the president's office condemning the attack said that "security forces will not be lenient with any party that tries to upset stability and civil peace."

Lebanese authorities are scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday following the incident.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday it had received a list with the names of the three hostages to be released by Hamas.

The hostages listed were Israeli-Argentine Iair Horn, 46; Israeli-American Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Israeli-Russian Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29.

The three were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities near the Gaza Strip that was targeted in the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, 2023.

The Hamas-linked Prisoners' Information Office has said that in return, Israel will release 369 Palestinians, 36 of whom are serving life sentences, from Israeli prisons.

Hamas has said it would release three Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza on Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal.

It comes after the militant group threatened earlier in the week to delay the release.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement by not allowing in enough shelters, medical supplies, fuel and heavy equipment for clearing rubble into the Gaza Strip.

Israel threatened to resume fighting on Saturday unless the hostages were released.

On Friday, Hamas reversed course after mediation by Egypt and Qatar. It released the names of three hostages that it planned to release.

Under the January 19 ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to hand over 33 Israeli hostages and Israel agreed to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Since the ceasefire took hold, 16 Israeli hostages and five Thai hostages have been released from Gaza. In return, more than 730 Palestinian prisoners have been released.

Thank you for joining us as we report on events surrounding the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a truce that has seemed increasingly fragile in recent days.

After briefly suspending the agreed releases of hostages taken during the Hamas-led raids on October 7, 2023, that triggered the conflict, Palestinian militants have now agreed to free three more captives on Saturday. The names of those hostages were announced on Friday, as DW reportedhere.