Sagui Dekel-Chen (36), Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov (29), and Iair Horn (46), who were held hostage in Gaza for 498 days, arrived in Israel on Saturday.
All three were kidnapped during the October 7 massacre.
Avital, wife of Sagui Dekel-Chen, shared her emotions ahead of the moving meeting with her husband: "My breath came back, I'm very emotional. He's so handsome. There's an enormous amount of relief that he's in the IDF's hands."
Ruth Horn, mother of Iair, who was released Saturday, and Eitan, who is still captive in Gaza, responded to Iair's release and thanked those who supported the family since the October 7 massacre.
"Thank you very much, send a huge hug to everyone who is there, who have been supporting me since the first day," she said. "Very soon I will see Iair, and like you said - we are all continuing until Eitan is here. A huge hug to everyone and thanks for all the support."
Iair's family said: "We can breathe a bit. Our Iair is home, after he survived hell and horrors in Gaza. Now, we need to bring back Eitan, so that our family will truly be able to breathe. We thank the IDF soldiers and the security forces who sacrifice their lives and bodies, and we send condolences to the bereaved families who lost their most beloved, for all of us."
Sagui Dekel-Chen was kidnapped from Nir Oz, the kibbutz which became a symbol of the October 7 massacre after a quarter of its residents were murdered or kidnapped to Gaza. When Sagui was kidnapped, his wife Avital was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. She hid and protected their daughters, ages six and two. Naamit, Sagui's mother, was kidnapped to Gaza, but pretended to be dead and survived.
While Sagui was in Gaza, Avital gave birth to the couple's third daughter, Dor. "I have a dream where I and Sagui are slow dancing on the kibbutz grass," Avital wrote. She said that their daughters, who kept calm and cool while they were in the bomb shelter, asked about their father every day and missed him.
Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov lived in Tel Aviv with his partner Sapir Cohen. On the morning of October 7, the pair went to visit his family in Nir Oz, where they were kidnapped together with the entire family. Troufanov is the only one of his family who remained in captivity in Gaza.
Iair Horn was also kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the massacre. His father, Itzik Horn, did not know that his younger son, Eitan, went to visit his brother in Nir Oz, and that they were both kidnapped.
Iair was bornin Israel, but at age two his family returned to Argentina. In 1999, he returned to Israel, to Kibbutz Halamed-Hey. Amos, the middle son, arrived in 2002, and a few months later Eitan came as well. Their mother Ruth, and her second husband Bernando, settled in Kfar Saba, and Eitan lived with them.
As part of the deal, hundreds of convicted terrorists will be released Saturday from prison. According to Hamas' Prisoners Office, 369 terrorists will be released, including 36 who were sentenced to life in prison, and another 333 who were arrested during the fighting in Gaza after the October 7 massacre - the largest group of Gazan prisoners to be released until now. One of those sentenced to life in prison, Sarahana Namousa, will be released to Jerusalem. Twenty-four others will be released to other countries.