Live Update arrow right icon From the Liveblog of Saturday, February 15, 2025

WATCH: Hamas sets up stage in Khan Younis for hostage handover

By Emanuel Fabian 15 February 2025, 7:24 am 12 Edit

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Hamas gunmen secure an area before handing over Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 15, 2025 (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Hamas gunmen secure an area before handing over Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 15, 2025 (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Hamas has set up a stage in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis for the handover of three Israeli hostages this morning.

The stage features Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad flags, as well as propaganda posters, including a picture of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looking at the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem with the caption in English, Hebrew and Arabic, saying “No migration except to Jerusalem,” a dig at US President Donald Trump’s call to resettle Gazans.

Another poster has aerial images of the communities and bases that Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023, with the caption, “We crossed over swiftly.”

In the coming hours, hostages Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Troufanov and Iair Horn are expected to be released from captivity. Dekel-Chen and Horn are being held by Hamas, while Troufanov is being held by Islamic Jihad.

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