An American Israeli hostage shared a loving embrace with his wife after almost 500 days apart following his release from captivity under Hamas.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, was seen in heartwarming images on Saturday embracing his wife Avital and his parents as he celebrated his freedom.
During the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, he was captured and held as a hostage. While he was in captivity, his wife gave birth to their third daughter.
‘Our hearts ache for everything he missed, but now he’s here, unlike many others,’ Dekel-Chen’s family said in a statement.
As he was released in a handover ceremony in Khan Younis, a city in the Gaza Strip that had suffered significant damage, Dekel-Chen was seen limping off the stage. The ceremony was attended by many Hamas fighters who were masked and armed.
He was not the only one released; two other men, Alexander ‘Sasha’ Troufanov, aged 29, and Iair Horn, aged 46, were also freed. Their release followed President Trump’s warning to Hamas that he would take severe action if they did not release the hostages.
In return for the release of the men, Israel freed 369 Palestinian hostages and prisoners, including 36 convicted of participating in the October 7 attacks.
Saturday’s hostage swap was the sixth since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on January 19.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, was seen in heartwarming images on Saturday embracing his wife Avital after almost 500 days apart following his release from captivity under Hamas
Sagui Dekel-Chen (left) seen with fellow hostage Alexander ‘Sasha’ Troufanov at a handover in the Gaza Strip on Saturday
When Israel handed back the 369 prisoners in exchange on Saturday, four were reportedly rushed to hospital for immediate treatment.
The exchange comes just days after Hamas astonishingly lashed out at Donald Trump’s threat to ‘let all hell break out’ if the terror group does not return all the remaining Israeli hostages.
A Hamas spokesman said there was no place ‘for the language of threats’ – roughly 14 months after the terror group slaughtered more than 1,100 Israelis during the October 7 incursion, while also kidnapping and raping hundreds.
On Monday night, the group also claimed Israel had violated the ceasefire agreement that was agreed last month.
Trump told reporters late on Monday night that while the decision ultimately rests on Israel’s shoulders, ‘as far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock – I think it’s an appropriate time – I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out’.
The exchange came after President Trump threatened to ‘unleash hell’ on Hamas if they did not continue freeing hostages
Hamas fighters escort Israeli hostage Or Levy on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025, as part of the fifth hostage-prisoner exchange of a fragile ceasefire
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior spokesperson for the terror group known for its tight stranglehold over the Gaza Strip, boldly claimed Trump’s comments did nothing but make negotiations for the end of the war harder.
‘The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters,’ Zuhri remarked.
He added that Trump needed to ‘remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the prisoners’.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas promised to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and an end to the hostilities.
On Tuesday morning, an elderly Israeli man taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, was declared dead by his kibbutz.
Hamas claimed Israel had violated the ceasefire agreement that was agreed last month
‘With heavy hearts, we, the members of the kibbutz, received the news this morning about the murder of our dear friend, Shlomo Mansour, 86 years old, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim during the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023,’ the community said of the Iraqi-born Israeli.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday that the ‘decision to confirm his death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months’.
One of the founders of Kibbutz Kissufim, Mansour was kidnapped from a henhouse during Hamas’s attack on southern Israel. His wife Mazal Mansour, with whom he lived for 60 years, managed to escape the attack. The couple have five children.
‘This is one of the most difficult days in the history of our kibbutz,’ the community said in a statement.
