International Committee of the Red Cross will monitor the releases
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas today released the names of 20 Israeli hostages still alive in the Gaza enclave who are expected to be released this morning, as part of an agreement with Israel.
“Within the scope of the agreement [de cessar-fogo e] exchange of prisoners, the al-Qassam Brigades decided to release the following Zionist prisoners alive,” the armed group said in a statement, publishing the list with the names of 20 hostages.
According to the Israeli press, the release of hostages will take place in two phases: the first at 08:00 (06:00 in Lisbon), in the Netzarim corridor area, which divides the Gaza Strip from east to west; and the second, around 10:00 (08:00 in Lisbon), in the Khan Yunis area, in the south of the enclave.
Hamas has committed to starting today the release of the 48 hostages, mostly Israelis, still detained in Gaza, as part of the peace agreement promoted by the United States that was reached last week in negotiations in Egypt.
“In accordance with the signed agreement, the prisoner exchange should begin on Monday morning, as agreed, and there is no news in this regard,” said, on Saturday, a representative of the group, identified as Oussama Hamdane, also speaking to the France-Presse news agency.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will monitor the releases.
After the handover is completed, Israel is expected to release around 2,000 Palestinian detainees from its prisons, in accordance with the terms of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement signed by the two sides.
Hamas also published this morning a list of more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners who, according to the movement, should be released.
On Sunday, the Israeli army admitted that it hoped that not all the bodies of the hostages still in the Gaza Strip would be returned today.
According to Tel Aviv, of the 48 hostages (47 of whom were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas attacks on Israel, which started the war, and a soldier killed in 2014, whose remains are in the possession of the Palestinian extremist group), 20 are alive and 28 dead.
The hostages that Israel believes are still alive are all men aged between 20 and 48.
Moments before the army’s statements, a spokeswoman for Benjamin Netanyahu had told the press that an “international body, agreed within the framework [do acordo de cessar-fogo, ajudaria] to locate the (dead) hostages if they were not found and released” on Monday.
