U.S. citizen Sagui Dekel-Chen will be one of the three hostages to be released to Israel by Hamas, Israeli authorities said Friday. The other two hostages also hold dual citizenships: Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov is also Russian while Yair Horn is Argentine. Dekel-Chen is 36 and a father of three. One of his daughters was born while in captivity.
Both Horn and Dekel-Chen were abducted during Hamas' raid on Kibbutz Nir Oz during October 7, 2023. The community was one of the hardest hit by what was the largest terrorist attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, as Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) took seven hours to get there. A senior army officer even told local outlet Haaretz that "Nir Oz was forgotten."
"Reports of events at Nir Oz reach the local divisional headquarters very late, and when they did arrive, the headquarters and Southern Command didn't send soldiers to the kibbutz," the outlet recounted. Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss, responsible for the area that included the kibbutz, later admitted he forgot to send forces there. And IDF forces only entered Nir Oz after Hamas terrorists had returned to Gaza.
Some 1,200 people were killed during the October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages. 46 of the former and 71 of the latter were from Nir Oz.
The release of the hostages moves forward with a ceasefire agreement that seemed on the brink of collapse, as Hamas said earlier this week it was putting releases on hold, accusing Israel of violating conditions of the ceasefire. That led to threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, who suggested the Israeli government should "let all hell break loose" if all hostages were not released by Saturday. Israel also said that if Hamas failed to free captives on schedule, it would resume its war in Gaza.
In the end, the agreement continued as planned, with three new releases. A Palestinian source told AFP that mediators had obtained from Israel a "promise... to put in place a humanitarian protocol starting from this morning".
Egyptian state-linked media said construction equipment, including bulldozers and trucks carrying mobile homes, was ready to enter Gaza from Egypt on Thursday.
The truce, currently in its first phase, has seen hostages released in small groups in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
Originally published on Latin Times
