Gaza - Saba:
Nahid al-Fakhouri, media official in the prisoners' office of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), confirmed that the batch that the "Israeli" occupation will release tomorrow, Saturday, of Palestinians detained in its prisons, as part of the implementation of the ceasefire and exchange agreement, will include 602 Palestinians, including hundreds of prisoners who were arrested by the occupation in Gaza after October 7, and dozens sentenced to life imprisonment.
Fakhouri told Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that this batch, as well as four additional bodies of Israelis held by resistance factions in Gaza, will be delivered next week, and will be the last exchange under the first phase of the agreement, provided that all future exchanges will take place under conditions determined by the negotiations of the second phase.
As for the "bodies of prisoners of the occupation," he emphasized that the occupation "killed them in the brutal raids in Gaza Strip before the ceasefire during the aggression against our people in Gaza Strip."
The movement responded to the Israeli statements by confirming in an official statement on its social media accounts that it had received through mediators "the allegations , claims of the occupation, and we will examine these allegations very seriously, and we will announce the results clearly."
It noted "the possibility of an error or overlap in the bodies, which may have resulted from the occupation's targeting and bombing of the place where the family was with other Palestinians." It called for "the return of the body that the occupation claims belongs to a Palestinian woman who was killed during the Zionist bombing."
"During the next week, four more bodies will be handed over, as announced to the resistance by Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades," Fakhouri said.
In return, "Israel will release women and children under the age of 19 who were arrested by the occupation from Gaza Strip after Oct. 7."
Fakhouri said that after Saturday and the final phase of handing over the four bodies (next week), "there will be no future payments until after the second phase, meaning that the second phase of the deal will be negotiated with different criteria than the first phase, and this is a certainty. The next payments or releases will be determined based on the outcomes of the negotiations during the second phase of the exchange deal."
Regarding the deported prisoners, Fakhouri said, "As is known, deportation is beyond our will, and was not in our consideration, but the requirements of the stage and circumstances, the priority of stopping the aggression and war on Gaza Strip, were taken into account. So there are deportees in the first phase of the deal. The prisoners are supposed to be deported abroad, not to Gaza Strip."
In response to a question about the leading prisoners and the second phase, Fakhouri said, "Regarding the deportees within the framework of the second phase, we will leave it to the outcomes of the negotiations in the second phase, and who will include them, whether from prisoners with high sentences and remaining life sentences, knowing that there are 300 prisoners with life sentences left inside the prisons before Al-Aqsa flood, and after "Al-Aqsa flood" certainly other numbers of life sentences, or those who are expected to be sentenced by the Zionist occupation to life imprisonment."
"We will talk about all these topics at the time, after the second phase and the agreement on the second phase. It is premature to talk about deportation or other details related to this phase."
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