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The release of the men, who include an American, was the sixth in a hostage-for-prisoner exchange laid out in a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel.
- Feb. 15, 2025Updated 5:44 a.m. ET
Hamas freed three more Israeli hostages on Saturday in a ceremony marked by some of the same provocative theatrics used by the Palestinian militants in previous releases.
It was the sixth round of a tense series of hostage-for-prisoner exchanges that are part of a 42-day cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, which went into effect last month. Overall, Hamas agreed to release 33 of the nearly 100 people who were captured on Oct. 7, 2023. In exchange, Israel agreed to free more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and partially withdraw from Gaza.
Here’s a closer look at the three civilian male hostages, including an Israeli American, who were released on Saturday:
Sagui Dekel-Chen
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Mr. Dekel-Chen, an Israeli American who had played for Israel’s national basketball team, was 35 when he was taken from Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel close to the Gaza border where militants abducted more than 70 people in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
He is a father of three; his youngest child was born during his captivity. Mr. Dekel-Chen worked as national coordinator for the British branch of the Jewish National Fund and with his wife, converted buses for new uses, such as for mobile classrooms.
Mr. Dekel-Chen’s family was active in advocating a cease-fire deal. His father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, a history professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times critical of the Israeli government for not bringing home the hostages.
