OAN Staff Abril Elfi
9:15 AM – Saturday, February 15, 2025
Three more Israeli hostages have been released and reunited with their families following 15 months in captivity.
On Saturday, Hamas freed three more Israeli hostages as a fragile ceasefire deal continues to hold.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, Iair Horn and Sasha Troufanov, have been released to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC). They were then transferred to the Israeli military and brought back to Israel, where they have since been reunited with their families.
On October 7th, Israeli American Dekel-Chen was abducted from Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel close to the Gaza border where militants abducted more than 70 people. He is a father of three; his youngest child was born during his captivity.
Dekel-Chen’s mother, Neomit Dekel-Chen, as well as other neighbors were also abducted during the attack. According to Israeli news outlets, she escaped from an electric cart traveling toward Gaza when an Israeli military chopper opened fire on the militants.
“Our Sagui is home. A friend, son, partner and most importantly a father has returned,” the family of Dekel-Chen said in a statement.
“Our hearts ache for everything he missed, but now he’s here, unlike many others,” his family added, calling for the remaining hostages to be released.
Horn was also abducted from Nir Oz along with one of his two brothers, Eitan, who was visiting for the weekend. Horn was born in Israel but had been raised in Argentina and returned to Israel as an adult.
Troufanov, a Russian Israeli dual citizen, was visiting family in Nir Oz on October 7th when he was also abducted. His father was killed, and his mother, grandmother and girlfriend were taken hostage.
The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, released a statement welcoming the three released hostages back to Israel.
“This week, Hamas again sought to violate the agreement and create a false crisis with empty claims,” according to the Prime Minister.
A total of 369 Palestinian detainees were released from Israeli custody in return.
The remaining hostages are set to be released in small groups every Sunday as the ceasefire deal progresses.
Nearly 100 hostages remain captive in Gaza, and it is currently unclear how many of them remain alive.
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