Israel To Release 200 Palestinian Prisoners In Phase Two Hostage Exchange

Palestinian prisoners who were released from Israeli prisons in the first phase of the hostage exchange were warmly welcomed upon arrival in Ramallah, the West Bank on Saturday (25/1/2025). (The New York Times/Afif Amireh)

JAKARTA - The second phase, which consists of 200 Palestinian prisoners, is scheduled to be released on Saturday as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal and a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel.

In a statement, the Prisoners' Media Office stated that the detainees to be released included 121 people serving life sentences and 79 people with long-term sentences.

The statement added that 70 prisoners serving a life sentence would be deported outside the Palestinian territories.

According to the statement, the second stage of the detainees will include 137 members of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, 26 members of the Fatah group, 29 from the Islamic Jihad group, three from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and one from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and four others without specific group affiliates.

The list of detainees to be released includes Mohammed al-Tous, the longest Palestinian prisoner in Israeli prison.

Al-Tous, who is from the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of carrying out attacks on Israeli targets.

On Saturday morning (25/1), Hamas released four Israeli female soldiers, after which 200 Palestinian prisoners were scheduled to be released.

Today we force the criminal colonialists to open up their prisons to free our prisoners. This is our promise to them for freedom, and to our people to continue the path to independence and determine their own destiny," Hamas said in a statement.

In the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel will withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor, the area separating northern and southern Gaza, thus allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their territory in northern Gaza.

The first phase of the six-week ceasefire deal came into force on January 19, and halted the Israeli genocide war that has killed nearly 47,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 111,400 people since October 7, 2023.

On the first day of the ceasefire, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of three Israeli prisoners by Hamas.

The three-stage ceasefire deal includes a sustainable prisoner swap and calm, with the aim of reaching a permanent ceasefire as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Israeli attacks have left more than 11,000 people missing, massive devastation, and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed many lives, especially the elderly and children, in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in November last year against Israeli authority leader Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense chief Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel is also facing genocide cases at the International Court of Justice over the war it wages in the region.