Yair Horn, a former hostage who was held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for 498 days, was released home from the hospital on Thursday, six days after being released by the Palestinian terrorist organization.
Horn, 46, a dual Israel-Argentinian national who was freed on Feb. 15 as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, completed initial treatment at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital, his family announced.
“Yair and our family’s journey to recovery is still long and will not end until Eitan and all the kidnapped return home,” the statement read, referring to the former captive’s younger brother, 38, who is still being held by Hamas.
“Yair promises to join the fight for their return at the first opportunity he can,” the family continued. The statement thanked the medical team at Ichilov for treating the former hostage “with dedication and sensitivity.”
The Tel Aviv medical center said in a statement that it would continue to support the Horn family and conduct medical follow-up as needed.
“We are looking forward to seeing all of the hostages home soon until the last one,” the Ichilov statement concluded, urging the public and media to continue to respect the family’s privacy in the time to come.
Horn was handed over by the Red Cross to Israel on Saturday along with fellow Hamas captive and American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Alexander (“Sasha”) Troufanov, 29, a dual Russian-Israel citizen who had been held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist organization that operates in Gaza.
Ahead of their transfer to the Red Cross, Hamas paraded the three men on a stage in front of a Palestinian crowd in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
All three were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault on the community, which was among the hardest hit. One in every four residents was either killed or kidnapped.
