UPDATE – 2nd batch of 200 Palestinian prisoners set for release under Gaza ceasefire deal

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – A second batch of 200 Palestinian prisoners is set for release on Saturday under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel.

In a statement, the Prisoners’ Media Office said the set-to-be freed prisoners will include 121 serving life sentences and 79 with lengthy sentences.

It added that 70 of those serving life sentences will be deported outside the Palestinian territories.

According to the statement, the second batch of prisoners will include 137 from Palestinian resistance group Hamas, 26 from Fatah group, 29 from Islamic Jihad, three from the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and one from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) in addition to four others without any party affiliation.

The list includes Mohammed al-Tous, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Al-Tous, from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison on accusations of carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.

Early Saturday, Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers following which the 200 Palestinian prisoners will be released.

“Today we force the criminal occupier to open its prisons (to free) our heroic prisoners. This is our pledge to them for freedom, and for our people to continue on the path of independence and self-determination,” Hamas said in a statement.

Under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire day, Israel will now withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor area that separates northern Gaza from its south, allowing displaced Palestinian to return to their areas in northern Gaza.

The first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed nearly 47,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 111,400 since Oct. 7, 2023.

On the first day of the ceasefire, Israel released 90 Palestinian detainees in return for three Israeli captives set free by Hamas.

The three-phase ceasefire agreement includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The Israeli onslaught has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.