Freed hostages reunite with families in Israel

Sagi and his wife in an Israeli helicopter[Missing Credit]

“You are heroes, you protected me,” Dekel-Chen told his spouse and mother.

Embracing his wife in the helicopter, he held a sign addressed to his three daughters that read, “Daddy is on his way.”

The Dekel-Chen family released a statement to the press, saying, “Our Sagi is home. A friend, a son, a partner, and most of all—a father. And now, he has returned. For almost 500 days, he was so far away, and now, at last, he is on Israeli soil, with us. In the coming hours, he will begin the recovery process, reunite with his daughters, Gali and Bar, and meet his youngest daughter, Shachar, for the first time—she was born while he was in captivity.

“Our hearts ache for all that he missed, but now he is here, unlike so many others,” the statement read.

“There are still many families waiting for their loved ones, many children waiting for their fathers. We will continue to fight until the last hostage is brought home. This is our duty.”

Alexander (“Sasha”) Troufanov, 29, who has dual Russian citizenship, was informed for the first time of the murder of his father, Vitali, on October 7, 2023.

Alexandre Troufanov enters into the hands of Israeli forces, inside the Gaza Strip, Feb. 15, 2025. Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.[Missing Credit]

“On October 7, Sasha was brutally kidnapped from his home and shot in both legs. Seeing him today strengthens us and gives us great hope for the long recovery process ahead of him,” his family said in a statement.

Troufanov made Aliyah with his family when he was three years old. He grew up in Kibbutz Nir Oz, adjacent to the Gaza Strip border, and studied electrical engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva.

In a message shared with Amazon employees on the company’s blog after Troufanov’s release, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy explained the tech giant’s decision not to publicly comment on his employee’s abduction.

“Sasha was abducted along with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend in the October 7, 2023, attacks, during which his father was killed. His mother, grandmother and girlfriend were released in November 2023. Since we learned of Sasha and his family’s abduction, we’ve had a dedicated team working behind the scenes with experts to support efforts to secure their release and to ensure that we did the right thing for them and their safety (including painfully not commenting publicly for fear that we would negatively impact their ability to be released or how they were treated in captivity),” Jassy wrote.

Released hostage Yair Horn (right) meets with family members at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), Feb. 15, 2025. Credit: IsraeliPM_heb/X.[Missing Credit]

The third released hostage, Argentinian-Israeli Yair Horn, 46, first met with his mother, Ruthi, and brother Amos at the Re’im camp. On his way to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) by chopper, he asked the pilot to pass above Hapoel Beersheva’s stadium, a soccer team of which Horn is a dedicated fan.

His brother Eitan is still held captive by Hamas.

The Horn family stated, “We can finally breathe a little. Our Iair is home after surviving hell and terror in Gaza. Now, we just need to bring Eitan back so our family can truly breathe again.

We are grateful to the IDF soldiers and security forces who risk their lives and bodies, and we send our condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their most precious loved ones for all of us. You will forever be in our hearts.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited the military’s Hostages and Missing Persons Command Center to oversee the men’s release and stated, “Alongside the immense emotion with the return of each hostage, we in the IDF remember our obligation to bring them all back. We are investing great efforts toward this goal, while simultaneously preparing offensive plans.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Israel is “fully prepared for the next steps in every respect,” referring to the fragile truce with Hamas and its potential collapse.

The PMO welcomed the three men “with a warm embrace. We have prepared for their return, and together with their families, we will assist in their recovery after the long and harrowing days in captivity.”

The statement continued that Hamas again “attempted to violate the agreement and fabricate a crisis with false claims. Thanks to the concentration of our forces inside and around Gaza, and due to President [Donald] Trump’s clear and unequivocal statement, Hamas backed down, and the hostage releases continued. We are working in full coordination with the United States to secure the release of all our hostages—both the living and the fallen—as quickly as possible.”

The US president congratulated the freed hostages, but made clear that their release fell short of his call to free all the captives.

“Hamas has just released three Hostages from Gaza including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages,” Trump said on Saturday on his social media platform Truth Social.

“Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 o’clock, today, deadline imposed on the release of all hostages. The United States will back the decision they make!” he added, seemingly referring to U.S. Eastern Time, which is 7 p.m. in Israel.

The president’s deadline was a reference to his previous warning that the “gates of hell” could be unleashed on Gaza if Hamas did not release all the hostages.

Seventy-three hostages remain inside the Strip, including 70 kidnapped on Oct. 7.

Saturday’s exchange of hostages for terrorists was the sixth such round under Phase 1 of the ceasefire that took effect on January 19 and is to end on March 1. Talks are ongoing on Phase 2 and 3, but it remains to be seen if they will be implemented or if war will resume.