The al Qassam Brigades hands over two Israeli prisoners to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip as part of the seventh batch of prisoner’s exchange deal
The al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, handed over two Israeli prisoners to the officials of the International Red Cross, Saturday, in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, as part of the seventh batch of the first phase, which includes the release of 6 detainees, as 4 others will be released in the Nuseirat camp.
Hamas published, Friday, the names of the Israeli detainees who will be released today: Ilya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Finkert, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al Sayed.
The handover ceremony of the detainees began with the Red Cross representative signing the document to receive them, while a Hamas member signed the decisions to release them.
Then the detainees moved to the handover platform to receive their release decisions and some gifts, and from there to the Red Cross vehicles in preparation for their transfer to Tel Aviv.
The footage showed a platform erected in a Square in Rafah, where the handover took place, with many slogans appearing on it, such as, “We’re the flood… We’re the great might”.
On the delivery platforms in Rafah and Nuseirat, Hamas displayed weapons they had seized during the battles with the Israeli occupation forces, and pictures of resistance leaders who were martyred in the last war on the Palestinian Strip were raised.
In return, 602 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released from the occupation prisons today, including 50 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, 60 with long sentences, in addition to 47 prisoners released who were re-arrested by Israel.
A 445 prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023 will also be released.
The ceasefire agreement went into effect on January 19, more than 15 months after the start of the devastating war, and stipulates the release of detainees in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, coinciding with the cessation of hostilities.
Under the agreement, whose first phase will last for 42 days, 33 detainees in Gaza will be released in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
So far, 19 Israeli detainees, the remains of 4 others, and 1,134 Palestinian prisoners have been released in 6 batches.
