Gaza: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received the second group of 13 Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The ICRC earlier received the first group of seven Israeli captives and handed them over to the Israeli authorities.
Under the exchange deal, the Israeli occupation authorities are expected later today to release 250 Palestinian detainees serving long and life sentences, in addition to 1,700 others arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip after October 7, 2023. Hamas will also hand over the bodies of several dead Israeli captives in two phases.
The Prisoners' Information Office published a list of Palestinian detainees scheduled for release today under the exchange deal, including those arrested in Gaza after October 7 and others serving long and life sentences.
According to Palestinian institutions concerned with detainees' affairs, Israel currently holds more than 11,100 Palestinians in its prisons, the majority of whom are administrative detainees. This figure does not include those held in Israeli military camps. The number of detainees from the Gaza Strip has risen to over 4,000 since the start of the war.
The captive-detainee exchange between Hamas and Israel forms part of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey. The accord, reached in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and effective since last Friday, constitutes the first phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
