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Rabat – Hamas released three captives today as part of the fourth exchange under the ceasefire deal signed with Israel.
The fourth swap took place in two locations. Hamas handed over two first captives to the Red Cross officials in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
The Red Cross then delivered the two captives to the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), who later took them to Israel “where they will undergo an initial medical assessment.”
Hamas then released the third captive, whose wife was released in the November 2023 ceasefire, in a second exchange point in the northern area of the Gaza Strip.
Unlike previous Israeli captives’ handover operations, this fourth occurred with no crowds at the delivery site, as locations were kept secret.
As part of this fourth prisoner exchange, Israel is set to release a total of 183 Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons.
Reports indicate that 32 Palestinian detainees from Israel’s Ofer Prison arrived this morning in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank. Footage and images of their release show joyful crowds hugging and carrying the recently freed prisoners. Meanwhile, another group of 111 Palestinian prisoners will be released separately today.
A total of 94 of the released Palestinians are expected to be sent back to the territory, while seven of these released prisoners will be deported elsewhere through Egypt.
Sending freed Palestinian detainees to undergo medical treatment reflects the inhumane conditions they lived in Israeli prisons.
Read also: Israel to Cut Ties with UNRWA, Intensifies Humanitarian Crisis Post Genocide in Gaza
Basil Farraj, an assistant professor at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank and an expert on political prisoners, told Al Jazeera: “I expect them to be brutalized. I expect the violence and torture they [will have] been subjected to since their arrest will continue until the last moment of the liberation.”
The fourth prisoner swap is part of the first six-week phase of a ceasefire deal signed between Hamas and Israel, after months of the IOF’s genocidal war against the Gaza enclave.
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Israel said it would release 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday in exchange for three Israeli hostages in the third round of exchanges in the ceasefire deal, but later halted the release “until further notice.”
Meanwhile, Israeli drones dropped last Thursday leaflets and images warning Palestinians against celebrating the release of detainees from Israeli prisons.
Hamas responded that “the mass gatherings during the handover … send a message to the (Israeli) occupation that the Palestinian people will remain on their land.”
Last Saturday a second prisoner exchange saw the freeing of 200 Palestinian detainees and the release of four Israeli captives.
The ceasefire deal took effect on January 19 with the release of three Israeli female civilian hostages and 90 Palestinian detainees.
The ongoing rounds of prisoner exchange reflect the US, Qatar, and Egypt’s diplomatic efforts invested to reach temporary peace, a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, and release captives on both sides of the long-standing conflict.
