KHAN YOUNIS: Hamas fighters have gathered in the southern Gaza Strip for the release of three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The three are Iair Horn, 46, Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, and Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29. All have dual citizenships. Horn was abducted along with his brother, Eitan, who remains in captivity.
As with previous exchanges, a stage was set up and the area was festooned with Palestinian flags and the banners of militant factions. Nearby was the shell of a heavily damaged multistory building.
The militants are expected to parade the hostages before crowds and cameras before handing them over to the Red Cross.
The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardized in recent days by a tense dispute that threatened to renew the fighting.
US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to remove more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and settle them elsewhere in the region has cast even more doubt on the future of the ceasefire.
But Hamas said Thursday it would move ahead with the release of more hostages after talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials. The group said the mediators had pledged to “remove all hurdles” to assure Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into Gaza.
It will be the sixth swap since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. So far, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners have been freed during the first phase of the truce.
As with previous exchanges, dozens of masked, armed Hamas fighters lined up near a stage festooned with Palestinian flags and the banners of militant factions while music blared from loudspeakers.
The militants are expected to parade the hostages before crowds and cameras onto the stage, which has been set up near a heavily damaged multistory building, before handing them over to the Red Cross. The humanitarian organization will then transport them to Israeli force.
Three Israeli hostages, over 300 Palestinian prisoners set to be exchanged today
https://arab.news/724s5
Three Israeli hostages, over 300 Palestinian prisoners set to be exchanged today
- As with previous exchanges, a stage was set up and the area was festooned with Palestinian flags and the banners of Palestinian groups
- The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardized in recent days by a tense dispute that threatened to renew the fighting
Trial opens in Tunisia of NGO workers accused of aiding migrants
- Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society”
TUNIS: Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society” in the country.
Six staff members of the Tunisian branch of the France Terre d’Asile aid group, along with 17 municipal workers from the eastern city of Sousse, face charges of sheltering migrants and facilitating their “illegal entry and residence.”
If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.
Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, a key transit point for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe each year.
A former head of Terre d’Asile Tunisie, Sherifa Riahi, is among the accused and has been detained for more than 19 months, according to her lawyer Abdellah Ben Meftah.
He told AFP that the accused had carried out their work as part of a project approved by the state and in “direct coordination” with the government.
Amnesty denounced what it described as a “bogus criminal trial” and called on Tunisian authorities to drop the charges.
“They are being prosecuted simply for their legitimate work providing vital assistance and protection to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in precarious situations,” Sara Hashash, Amnesty’s deputy MENA chief, said in the statement.
The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including anti-racism pioneer Saadia Mosbah, whose trial is set to start later this month.
In February 2023, President Kais Saied said “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.
His speech triggered a series of racially motivated attacks as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia were pushed out of their homes and jobs.
Thousands were repatriated or attempted to cross the Mediterranean, while others were expelled to the desert borders with Algeria and Libya, where at least a hundred died that summer.
This came as the European Union boosted efforts to curb arrivals on its southern shores, including a 255-million-euro ($290-million) deal with Tunis.
