GAZA CITY: Israel released 97 Palestinian prisoners, including 24 children, on Thursday after Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Gaza, marking the conclusion of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
On Wednesday night, Hamas handed four coffins to the Red Cross from Gaza. Israel’s prime minister confirmed on Thursday that they contained the remains of Shlomo Mansour, 86, Ohad Yahalomi, 50, Tsachi Idan, 50, and Itzik Elgarat, 69.
The handover cleared the way for the delayed release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. This was the last exchange of the six-week-long first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile Israel on Thursday said it will not withdraw from a strategic corridor in the Gaza Strip as called for by the ceasefire.
The ceasefire, brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, ended 15 months of war that started on October 7, 2023, after an attack by Hamas on Israel. During the war, Israel killed at least 48,365 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Under the ceasefire’s first six-week phase, which expires this weekend, Hamas returned 33 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Most of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been displaced multiple times. Almost 70 per cent of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed. The healthcare, water, sanitation, and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and shelter.
“We have been taken out of suffering as if we have been dug out from our own graves. No prisoner has had the experience of having their own release delayed twice,” one of the Palestinian prisoners, Yahya Shrida, told reporters.
Hamas ready to start delayed talks
Hamas has expressed its readiness to start delayed talks on the second phase, which aims to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.
Hamas said the only way the dozens of remaining hostages in Gaza would be released is through negotiations and commitment to the ceasefire.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office, a total of 642 Palestinians in Israeli jails were expected to be released in the exchange.
The group included 445 Gazans detained by Israeli forces without charge during the war, as well as 46 women and children.
Among the 151 prisoners are dozens convicted of carrying out deadly attacks on Israelis, and these individuals are being sent abroad.
Israel had delayed the releases since last Saturday in protest over what it described as “Hamas’s repeated violations, including ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of them for propaganda purposes.”
In response, Hamas called Israel’s decision a “blatant” violation and stated that indirect talks regarding further steps in the ceasefire deal would be contingent upon the release of the prisoners.
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US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has said he wants the sides to move into negotiations on the second phase.
Russia urges warring sides to focus on detainee exchanges
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has discussed the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty over the phone, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“During the conversation, there was a constructive exchange of views on pressing regional issues, with a focus on the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone,” it said.
The statement stressed the need to intensify international efforts to ensure the continued implementation of the three-phased ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, facilitate detainee exchanges, and expand humanitarian aid deliveries to residents of the enclave.
