Hamas releases three Israeli hostages

Israel has confirmed that three hostages were returned after being handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

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.