Hamas should deliver three Israeli hostages this Saturday (8) in exchange for Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement aimed at making the way for the end of the 15-month war in Gaza.
Both hostages from Kibbutz Be’eri during the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped at the New Music Festival, will be released on Saturday, Hamas said.
In return, Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners, including 18 people serving perpetual penalties, 54 serving long penalties and 111 detainees in Gaza during the war, the Palestinian group media office said.
This Saturday’s exchange is the latest in a series that have so far returned, as well as five Thai workers kidnapped during the Hamas attack and 583 Palestinian prisoners.
The and exchange of hostages for prisoners, prepared with the support of the US and mediation of Egypt and Qatar, has remained since it was in force almost three weeks.
But fears that the agreement can fail before all hostages are released have increased from the Palestinians to be removed from Gaza and that the enclave is delivered and developed by the United States.
Arab states and Palestinian groups rejected the proposal, which critics said it would be equivalent to ethnic cleaning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, welcomed Trump’s intervention and his defense minister ordered the military to make the Palestinians who would like to leave Gaza to do so.
Under the agreement, 33 children, older women, and men, Israeli will be freed during an early stage in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
They began this week aiming at the return of the remaining hostages and a total withdrawal of the Israeli troops of Gaza in preparation for a definitive end of war.
Armed men led by Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 as hostages.
In response, Israel launched an air and terrestrial war in Gaza that killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities, and devastated the enclave.
