 "The photograph shows three Israeli male hostages being released by Hamas in the fifth exchange under the ceasefire deal. (Photo: AP)")
Hamas has said that it has reached an arrangement with Israel to exchange hostages’ bodies for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The arrangement breaks the dayslong logjam between that erupted after Israel indefinitely postponed the release of Palestinian prisoners even after Hamas released six hostages on Saturday.
Israel said that Palestinians would not be released “until the release of the next hostages is secured without humiliating ceremonies” — in an apparent reference to ceremonies that Hamas conducts at the time of hostages’ release with violent imagery and intimidating mobs.
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After talks in Egypt, Hamas on Tuesday said that the bodies of two hostages would be released in the coming days to secure the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners that Israel had postponed, according to Reuters.
Hamas said that the bodies and prisoners will be released simultaneously as per the arrangement between the two sides.
“They (Palestinian prisoners) will be released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners (hostages) agreed to be handed over during the first phase, in addition to the corresponding Palestinian women and children,” read the statement issued after talks led by Hamas’ Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya.
There has been no corresponding statement yet from Israel on the development.
So far, Hamas has released 34 hostages, 29 Israelis and five Thais, in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release agreement. In the second phase, the remaining hostages are supposed to be released.
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After Israeli postponed the release of Palestinian prisoners, Hamas had said that progress could not be made on the second phase of the deal as long as prisoners’ release was still being delayed. The breaking of the logjam suggests that talks for the second phase may now resume — even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated he has no interest in progressing to the second stage and is instead preparing to resume the war.
Netanyahu’s far-right allies have said they would leave the ruling coalition and make way for the collapse of his government if the deal would enter phase two. It has been reported in the Israeli media that Netanyahu has reached a deal with far-right ally Bezalel Smotrich for the resumption of war in Gaza after the end of the first phase, control and restriction of the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the usage of weapons heavier than those used so far in the war in return of his party’s continued presence in the ruling coalition.