Israel To Release Over 700 Palestinian Prisoners In First Phase Of Ceasefire Deal

<p>Israel’s justice ministry has said that it will release 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as a part of the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal approved Saturday.</p>
<p>According to AFP, in a statement on its website, it said &ldquo;the government approves&rdquo; the &ldquo;release (of) 737 prisoners and detainees&rdquo; currently in the custody of the prison service.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Justice added that the release will not begin before 4 pm local time on Sunday, as per an Associated Press (AP) report. The Israeli Prison Services said that it would transport the prisoners instead of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had handled the transportation during the first ceasefire. The prisoners have been accused of crimes like incitement, vandalism, supporting terror, terror activities, attempted murder or throwing stones or Molotov cocktails.</p>
<p>As per AFP, among the people who will be released will be Zakaria Zubeidi, chief of the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas&rsquo;s Fatah party. Zubeidi escaped from Israel&rsquo;s Gilboa prison with five other Palestinians in 2021 which sparked a days-long manhunt, and is lauded by Palestinians as a hero.</p>
<p>Khalida Jarar, a leftist Palestinian lawmaker, is to be released as well, whom Israel arrested and imprisoned on several occasions. Jarar is a prominent member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated a &ldquo;terrorist organisation&rdquo; by Israel, the United States and the European Union.</p>
<p>Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that the first group of hostages to be released includes three Israeli women soldiers. However, since the Palestinian Islamist movement considers any Israeli of military age who has completed mandatory service as a soldier, this reference could also apply to civilians abducted during the attack that sparked the war. The first three names of the 33 hostages set to be released in the first phase are women under 30 who were not serving in the military on the day of the Hamas attack.</p>
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<p>However, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Noga Katz reportedly said the final number of prisoners to be released in the first swap would depend on the number of live hostages released by Hamas.</p>
<p>This comes after Israel’s cabinet approved the new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, paving the way for its implementation from Sunday. The decision was made after hours of discussions that continued late into the night.</p>
<p>As per AP, the largely devasted Gaza is likely to see a surge in humanitarian aid. Since Friday, trucks lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border to cross into Gaza.</p>
<p>An Egyptian official told AP, that an Israeli delegation from the military and Israel&rsquo;s Shin Bet internal security agency arrived in Cairo on Friday, to discuss the reopening of the crossing. An Israeli official confirmed that a delegation was headed to Cairo.</p>
<p>Israeli forces will also pull back from many areas in Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire and thousands of Palestinians will be able to return to Gaza.</p>