Hamas, PIJ name three captives including Alexander Trufanov, Sagui Dekel Chen & Yair Horn to be freed in Gaza

GAZA, Feb 14 (SABAH): Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have named Alexander Trufanov, Sagui Dekel Chen and Yair Horn as three male Israeli captives to be released in Gaza tomorrow.

Israel has accepted the list of captives and is now expected to release the list of Palestinian prisoners it will release in exchange.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has confirmed 48,239 deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza while 111,676 people have been wounded. The Government Media Office has updated its death toll to at least 61,709 people, saying thousands missing under the rubble are now presumed dead.

At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks and more than 200 were taken captive.

Yair Horn, 46, was taken by fighters from his home in Israel’s Nir Oz settlement on October 7, 2023. His family emigrated from Argentina to Israel many years ago, according to Israeli media, which added that he worked in construction, and was heavily involved in the community of Nir Oz, organising parties and activities.

Alexander Trufanov, 29, a Russian Israeli national, was abducted with his girlfriend, Sapir Cohen, from their home in Nir Oz. The Israeli media said his father was killed in the October 7, 2023 attack, and his captive mother and grandmother were freed as part of the November 2023 deal. The family emigrated from Russia in the late 1990s, reports added.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was also taken from Nir Oz, is a US Israeli citizen. The 36-year-old is a father of three, including one who was born during his captivity, and is not aware that his wife and children survived the October 2023 attack, media reports say, adding that he refurbished old buses into mobile classrooms for underserved children.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops detained Abdullah Manasra after raiding his family’s house in the east of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The report did not disclose the age of the child.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a nongovernmental organisation, said yesterday that Israel arrested about 380 Palestinians in the governorates of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas, since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli operations in the north of the occupied West Bank.