Israel confirms release of 200 Palestinian prisoners

The Israeli prison service confirmed this Saturday (25) that 200 Palestinian prisoners had been released from detention centers in the country. The action is part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which provides for the release of prisoners and hostages.

A prison service spokesman said the agency was “working to release the terrorists in line with the policy outline that has been agreed for the return of the hostages, in full co-operation with all security agencies”.

Prisoners at Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank are being taken elsewhere in the region, the prison service said. Meanwhile, inmates from Ktzi’ot prison will be taken to the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.

Hamas previously said it expected Israel to release about 200 Palestinian prisoners, including 120 serving life sentences and another 80 with high sentences.

Release of Israeli hostages

Also on Saturday, Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers who were being held hostage, maintaining a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza. The agreement provided for the Israeli hostages to be released in exchange for the 200 Palestinian prisoners.

The four hostages were taken to a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men.

Saturday’s planned exchange is the second since the ceasefire began on January 19, and Hamas handed over three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire agreement, hammered out after months of on-and-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted fighting for the first time since a week-long truce in November 2023.

In the first six-week phase of the agreement, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, including children, women, elderly, sick and injured, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, as Israeli troops withdraw from some of their positions in the Gaza Strip.

In a next phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of remaining hostages, including men of military age, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which is largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and bombing.

After Saturday’s release, 90 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

This content was originally published in Israel confirms release of 200 Palestinian prisoners on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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