2023-11-26 01:25:14
The Israeli prison service confirmed that it has released the second batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners agreed upon today, in exchange for the release by Hamas of 13 Israeli hostages, after hours of delay in this exchange.
“The prison service concludes the second phase of releasing prisoners, as part of the plan for the return home of the kidnapped. During the night, 39 security prisoners were released,” The agency said shortly after Israel confirmed that the hostages – 13 Israelis and 4 Thais – were already in Israeli territory.
Israel gathered the 39 prisoners released this morning in the Ofer prison, near Jerusalem, to be released once the hostages were in Israel, and handed over to the Red Cross, which transferred them to the town of Beitunia, in Occupied West Bank.
In total there are 6 women and 33 adolescents, who have been accused of terrorism, but without blood crimes.
“The penitentiary service will continue in the coming days to execute the plan to release the prisoners within the framework of the operation to return the kidnapped to their homes”he indicated.
Hamas delayed the handover of a second batch of hostages, scheduled for 14:00 GMT, and accused Israel of violating the terms of the agreement they reached regarding the entry of humanitarian aid and the release of senior Palestinian prisoners in prisons. .
After several hours of silence following that Hamas announcement, the Israeli Government reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this afternoon “an evaluation of the situation with all the security elements to verify that the second phase is progressing as planned.”
Hamas accused Israel of “manipulating” the list of prisoners to be released and not fulfilling the commitment to first release the eight women who were serving longer sentences, all imprisoned since 2015.
Yesterday Israel released only two of them, Rawan Abu Ziyada y Angry Bakir -imprisoned when she was only 15 years old-, but finally today’s list includes the other six prisoners who have already served more than eight years in prison: Nourhan Jader Awad, Shorouq Duwaiyat, Maysun Mousa, Falling Desert, Israel Jabis y Aisha al Afghani.
The parties agreed this week, with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and the USA, the exchange of 50 Israeli hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners, during four days of truce, and the entry of 200 trucks of humanitarian aid daily into the Gaza Strip.
In both cases they would always be women, children and adolescents and the ceasefire may be extended if Hamas agrees to release at least ten captives per day, in exchange in any case for the release of three times as many Palestinian prisoners.
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