Israel just got the names of the three captive hostages in Gaza who are set to be released, including an Argentine-Israeli, after days of uncertainty about the future of the ceasefire with Hamas. So, what’s going on here? The hostages that will be released are Yair Horn, an Argentine-Israeli, Sasha Trupanov, a Russian-Israeli, and Sagui Dekel Chen, an American-Israeli, according to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
More than 15 months of conflict
The conflict has been going on for over 15 months now, and it’s been a really tricky situation. One of the hostages is being held by Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, which was also involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that basically triggered this whole war in Gaza. After months of indirect negotiations, the parties finally agreed to a ceasefire, thanks to the help of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.
The truce has been in place since January 19, which is a big deal because it ended over 15 months of conflict in the Gaza territory, which has been governed by Hamas since 2007. However, the agreement is now under a lot of pressure, especially since US President Donald Trump proposed that the US take control of Gaza and relocate its population – that’s a pretty big ask. Israel has made it clear that the truce will only continue if the three Israeli hostages are released on Saturday, after Hamas threatened to postpone it, claiming that Israel had violated the agreement.
The pact involves exchanging Israeli hostages captured during the October 7 attack for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons. So far, there have been five exchanges. It’s a complex situation, and it’s hard to say what’s going to happen next. With the US, Qatar, Egypt, and other countries involved, it’s a pretty delicate balance. Anyway, let’s just hope that the truce holds and things start to calm down in the region.
With information from AFP.