The Palestinian
resistance movement Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers on 25 January,
while Israel is releasing some 200 Palestinians as part of a ceasefire
agreement aimed at ending Israel's war on Gaza.
Reuters reports
that before their release, the four Israeli soldiers were “led onto a podium in
Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed
Hamas men. They waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC vehicles and
being transported to Israeli forces.” The women looked well and healthy.
The Hamas
fighters who oversaw the captives' release were seen holding Israeli rifles,
most likely obtained from Israeli forces who were fighting in Gaza.
Israeli
authorities released 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons on 25 January as
part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
WAFA
news agency reports that according to the Palestinian Commission for Prisoners
and Ex-Prisoners Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the group
includes 121 who were serving life sentences and 79 serving long-term
sentences.
Hamas
released four female Israeli soldiers as part of the deal earlier in the day.
One
hundred fourteen Palestinian prisoners were transferred from Ofer Prison in the
occupied West Bank for release in Ramallah, 16 were returned to Gaza, and 70
were exiled outside Palestine, WAFA added. Egypt will host them for 48 hours
before they are sent to Tunisia, Algeria, and Turkiye – which all agreed to
receive them.
Among
those released was 67-year-old Mohammad al-Tous from the village of Al-Jabaa,
south of Bethlehem. Tous had spent 39 years in Israeli prisons.
Fifty-seven-year-old
Raed al-Saadi from the town of Silat Al-Harithiya, west of Jenin, was also
released. Saadi had been imprisoned by Israel for 35 years – since the first
Intifada in 1989.
The
Abu Hmeid brothers, Nasser, Mohammad, and Sharif, from the Al-Amari refugee
camp in Ramallah, were also released. All three had been sentenced to life in
prison. They were forcibly exiled outside Palestine.
Their
brother, Nasser Abu Hmeid, died from cancer while in prison in 2022. He had
been detained for 20 years. Israeli authorities refused to return his body.
Amid
the release, Israeli forces declared the area near Ofer Prison a closed
military zone while dispersing families of prisoners and supporters with live
ammunition and tear gas.
Hundreds
gathered in Ramallah to celebrate the return of their loved ones from Ofer.
Palestinians, still wearing gray prison uniforms, were held on the shoulders of
members of the chanting crowd. Layla Ghannam, the Governor of Ramallah, and
other Palestinian officials attended the event to welcome the prisoners home.
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