THE prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas is expected to take place today, with Egypt overseeing the process to ensure both sides fulfil their commitments.
Israel will release more than 600 Palestinian detainees, including those whose release was postponed last Saturday, and Hamas will release the bodies of four deceased Israeli captives as part of the first phase of the current ceasefire agreement.
The al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades will hand over the body of the 50-year-old Israeli captive Ohad Yahalomi as a part of this deal.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem confirmed in an interview with Al-Aqsa TV that an agreement has been reached with mediators in Egypt to resolve the issues related to Israel’s delay in releasing the seventh batch of Palestinian prisoners.
He said the group would hand over four bodies of Israeli captives ‘simultaneously with the occupation’s release of the postponed batch, in addition to the release of the equivalent number of women and children who were arrested after October 7th in the Gaza Strip’.
He added there ‘are clear guarantees from the mediators’ that Israel must abide by what has been agreed upon.
Ismail al-Thawabteh, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, met a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) yesterday.
A statement said the official ‘raised a set of fundamental questions, including the mechanism and method of receiving the bodies of Israeli captives, in humane and appropriate ways, while the bodies of Palestinian martyrs … are handed over in inhumane and brutal ways by the occupation army’.
Last September, the ICRC denied any role in the transfer of the remains of dead Palestinians from Israel to Gaza.
The issue was raised by al-Thawabteh in the meeting, the statement said.
He highlighted that some of the Palestinian bodies had been ‘dissolved and handed over in humiliating ways in plastic bags that contradict international standards.’
