In a ceremony surrounded by masked Palestinian militants and rubble from the Gaza war, Hamas released three Israeli hostages holding U.S., Russian and Argentinian citizenships on Saturday.

The releases were part of a truce that began nearly four weeks ago, but has in recent days appeared on the brink of collapsing.

Hamas named three more Israeli hostages it will release in a weekend trade for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the latest sign that the shaky Gaza ceasefire deal appears to be holding in spite of a

The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardised 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.

Hamas released Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov in Gaza on Saturday and Israel began freeing some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange, after mediators helped avert a ceasefire collapse.

Militants in the southern Gaza Strip paraded the three hostages — Iair Horn, 46, a dual citizen of Israel and Argentina; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov,

Three Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza by Palestinian militants on Saturday, in the sixth exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal that came into effect last month.