Twenty Israeli hostages in Gaza handed over to the Red Cross

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, began handing over Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday morning, which is handling their transfer to Israel.

Channel 12 Israel reported that “the Red Cross received 20 prisoners in the Gaza Strip”.

For its part, the Qassam Brigades, announced on Monday that it would abide by the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement reached in the Gaza Strip and the associated timetables, provided Israel adheres to them.

The Qassam Brigades said in a statement, “The agreement reached is the fruit of our people’s steadfastness and the resilience of its resistance fighters… We declare our commitment to the agreement reached and the timetables associated with it, as long as the enemy adheres to them”.

The statement added: “The resistance has always been keen to stop the war of extermination, and has sought to do so since the first months, but the enemy thwarted all efforts based on its own narrow calculations and to satisfy the Nazi government’s instinct for brutality and revenge”.

The statement continued: “The enemy failed to recover its prisoners through military pressure, despite its superior intelligence and surplus power… Now, it has surrendered and recovered its prisoners through a prisoner exchange deal, as the resistance promised from the beginning”.

The Qassam Brigades stated that “the Nazi occupation could have recovered most of its prisoners alive many months ago, but it continued to stall and refuse, preferring to have its army kill dozens of them as a result of its failed policy of military pressure”.

On Monday, Palestinian organizations concerned with prisoner affairs published lists of 1,718 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza and 250 prisoners serving life sentences who are scheduled to be released by Israel under the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the Gaza Strip.

According to the lists, the prisoners to be released by Israel include 1,718 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip arrested after October 7, 2023, and 250 prisoners serving life sentences or long prison terms.

According to Palestinian institutions, 154 prisoners on the release list will be deported outside the West Bank, including Jerusalem.