Israel-Hamas hostage exchange resumes on Saturday
Shafaq News/ The fourth phase of the ongoing hostage and prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel is set to take place on Saturday as part of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Israel has confirmed receiving a list of three hostages held in Gaza who are expected to be released today. The individuals identified for release are Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, a dual US-Israeli citizen, and Ofer Calderon, who holds both French and Israeli citizenship.
In exchange, the Palestinian Prisoners Club has announced that 183 Palestinian detainees will be freed by Israel, including 111 prisoners from Gaza, most of whom were arrested after October 7.
A group of Palestinians is expected to cross from Gaza into Egypt today via the recently reopened Rafah border crossing.
So far, 15 out of the 33 hostages slated for release in the first phase of the ceasefire deal have been freed in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners.
Further negotiations focused on securing the release of over 60 additional hostages and facilitating a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, set to begin by Tuesday.
About The Agreement
In the first phase, Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages and 12 foreign nationals, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners. The second one, saw Hamas releasing 10 Israeli hostages and several foreign nationals, in exchange for 42 Palestinian prisoners. In the third phase, Hamas freed three Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals, while Israel released 110 Palestinian detainees.
Notably, Hamas is expecting to release around 100 Israeli hostages in total, while Israel will free approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences. Hamas has also stated that the number of Israeli hostages released will depend on the number of Palestinian detainees freed by Israel.
The agreement also includes provisions for the release of 47 Palestinian prisoners who were part of the 2011 exchange deal but were later rearrested by Israel.
