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The militant group Hamas has named the three hostages it plans to release Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the latest indication that a fragile ceasefire will hold.
The hostages, as reported by Hamas and confirmed by Israeli authorities, include Israeli American Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. Chen reportedly was taken captive when he confronted Hamas militants during their Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel. Two months after his capture, his wife, Avital, gave birth to their third daughter.
Also to be released is Israeli Russian Sasha Troufanov, 29, also from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was taken prisoner in the Hamas attack, along with his mother, Yelena, grandmother Irina Tati, and girlfriend, Sapir Cohen. All three women were released in a hostage deal a month later. His father, Vitaly, was killed in the attack. The family emigrated to Israel from Russia 25 years ago.
The third hostage was identified as Israeli-Argentinian Iair Horn, 46, also from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was kidnapped in the Hamas attack, along with his brother Eitan, who is not part of the current phase of the hostage deal
Release was in doubt
The release of the hostages was thrown into doubt after Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement, and threats of a return to war.
"We are not interested in the collapse of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, and we are keen on its implementation and ensuring that the occupation [Israeli forces] adheres to it fully," Hamas spokesperson Abdul-Latif al-Qanou said on Thursday.
Qanou also criticized what he called "language of threats and intimidation" from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, saying they do not help the implementation of the ceasefire.
The Israeli government later reiterated that Hamas must release three hostages this weekend.
"If those three are not released, if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end," Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said.
Hamas earlier this week accused Israel of violating the deal by continuing airstrikes on people in Gaza and blocking aid. The group said future hostage releases would be postponed.
Netanyahu said fighting would resume if more captives were not freed Saturday, while Trump said Monday that "all hell would break out" if hostages were not returned.
Trump's plan for Gaza
Also Friday, at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. Security Council more than 630 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Thursday, with at least 300 of them heading to the northern section of the enclave.
He urged the Security Council and all U.N. member states to support efforts to implement the ceasefire and bring about a permanent cessation of hostilities. He also called for international media to be allowed into Gaza to report on the situation on the ground.
Meanwhile, United Nations ambassadors from the 22-nation Arab Group rejected Trump's proposal Friday for the U.S. to take over control of the Gaza Strip and for Palestinians to be relocated elsewhere. They also expressed their own desire to see Gaza rebuilt for Palestinians.
Speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, the group's chairman, U.N. Ambassador from Kuwait Tareq Albanai, said the suggested displacement of Palestinians from Gaza would constitute "a clear violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, prohibiting the forcible transfer of protected populations from occupied territories, irrespective of motive."
U.N. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Palestinians would like to see Gaza rebuilt as Trump imagined, only for the Palestinians. "We have no homeland except Palestine," he said. "We love Palestine. We will rebuild the Gaza Strip. We will rebuild Palestine."
Mansour said the group also was strongly united behind the current ceasefire agreement and to make it permanent, and for it to be expanded to include not only Gaza but the occupied West Bank as well. The Arab Group also extended an invitation to the U.N. Security Council to visit Gaza.
VOA's Natasha Mozgovaya and Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.