Israel approves adding 50 Palestinian women prisoners to swap deal if Hamas frees more hostages

By Ahmed Gouda

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel has approved adding 50 Palestinian women prisoners to a list of those scheduled for release under a swap deal with Hamas if the group frees more Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Tuesday

“The government has approved the inclusion of 50 female prisoners in the list of prisoners eligible to be released in the event that a release of additional Israeli hostages is carried out,” the office said in a brief statement on X.

Israel’s Haaretz daily reported that activist “Ahed Tamimi is among the prisoners on the Israeli list of Palestinians expected to be released in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas in the future.”

Israeli forces arrested Tamimi in 2017 and imprisoned her for eight months before re-arresting her on Nov. 6 this year in the village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu's office announced early Tuesday that Tel Aviv had received the list of expected hostages to be released later in the day as part of the fifth batch of hostages in a swap deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala