Hamas To Return Six Hostages Today, Israel Frees 602 Palestinian Prisoners

JAKARTA - Palestinian prisoner NGOs confirmed 600 Palestinian prisoners will be released from prison, following the plan to repatriate six Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip today.

Palestinian militant group Hamas has confirmed that it will release six Israeli hostages today, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

According to Hamas' statement, the six hostages are the last of those to be repatriated in the first phase who are still alive, reported by The Times of Israel on February 21.

The families of the six people were notified by Israeli officials on Tuesday.

Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been in Gaza for more than a decade, having entered the Gaza Strip on their own accord. While the others were kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

Separately, Israeli authorities said they had received a list of six hostages scheduled to be released from Gaza.

In a statement the Israeli Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the families of the hostages on the list had been notified. The office called on the public to refrain from spreading unverified rumors or information.

Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoner NGOs said Israel would release 602 prisoners from prison today as part of an ongoing ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Amani Sarahneh, the NGO spokesman, told AFP that those scheduled to be released included 445 people from Gaza, 60 people serving prison terms, 50 people serving life imprisonment and 47 people being held back after the exchange of IDF prisoners Gilad Shalit in 2011.

Last night the Hebrew media reported seven of those scheduled to be released outside the Israeli border asking to remain in prison, and they were replaced by seven others from the eligible list.

As previously reported, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said on Tuesday it was ready to start negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire, as well as release six surviving hostages based on the first phase of the deal and repatriate the bodies of four hostages this week, quoted from IRNA.

Al-Hayya explained that Hamas would cooperate with mediators, especially Qatar and Egypt, to ensure that the first phase of the ceasefire agreement was carried out thoroughly.

It is known that thirty-three Israeli prisoners will be released under a first-stage ceasefire agreement, with 19 people released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians.

Of the remaining 14 people, eight were killed, according to Israeli officials.

The three-stage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced on January 15 and took effect on January 19.

The first phase of the ceasefire will officially end on March 1, and Israel has postponed negotiations at the next stage, which should have started 16 days after the agreement took effect on January 19.