OAN Staff James Meyers
8:42 AM – Friday, February 14, 2025
Hamas has named the three hostages they would be releasing to the Jewish State in the latest exchange planned for Saturday, Israel said on Friday.
American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, was among the three named, along with Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov, 29, and Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn, 46. The trio are being exchanged in return for Palestinian prisoners, officials stated.
The hostage announcement comes just days after uncertainty about whether or not the cease-fire agreement last month would hold.
The agreement was held up after high level mediating efforts by Egyptian and Qatari officials.
Dekel-Chen was one of the first people to spot the approaching Hamas terrorist attack at Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of October 7th. He warned his neighbors before hiding his wife and children away in their home’s safe room.
He then went back outside into danger to aid the kibbutz security team. Dekel-Chen was last heard from at 9:30 a.m., according to the Times of Israel.
Dekel-Chen and fellow American Keith Siegel, 65, were both included on a list of 33 hostages Hamas agreed to free in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in a 42-day truce.
On February 1st, Siegel was finally released.
During the cease-fire, the Jewish State agreed to pull back on their military forces in the Gaza Strip and allow Palestinians to return to their homes.
Troufanov was also seen multiple times in hostage videos, including one in particular where he discussed the lack of food, water and medicine that he was provided.
Troufanov, his mother, his grandmother, and his girlfriend, were all taken hostage during the October 7th attack at their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Eventually his mother and grandmother were freed in November 2023, due to the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin and then his girlfriend was eventually freed in the first prisoner exchange later in November.
For Horn, he was taken along with his brother, Eitan Horn, 46, who he was visiting at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, on October 7th.
Iair Horn was included in the first round of releases while his brother stayed as a hostage, according to The Times of Israel.
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