CAIRO, February 14. /TASS/. The radical Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement will release Russian citizen Alexander Trufanov held in the Gaza Strip on February 15, its militant wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, said in a statement.
"As part of the deal [with Israel], we have decided to release hostage Alexander Trufanov on Saturday, February 15," the statement posted on the group's Telegram channel said.
The day before, Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Simona Halperin told TASS that according to her country's leadership, Russian hostage Alexander Trufanov is alive and will be released in the first stage of the deal made with the Palestinian movement Hamas, which is an ally of the Islamic Jihad movement.
On January 15, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement on the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and the introduction of a ceasefire in the enclave. The agreement, which includes three stages, went into effect on January 19. According to it, the implementation of the first stage of the agreement will take 42 days, during which Hamas must release at least 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.