GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday raised a large banner at the platform designated for handing over Israeli captives as part of the fifth phase of the prisoner exchange deal, challenging Israeli threats to eliminate the group from Gaza.

In Deir al-Balah city, the central Gaza Strip, the Al-Qassam Brigades raised a large banner reading, "we are the flood ... we are the next day," written in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, accompanied by an image of the Palestinian flag and a clenched fist.

Al-Qassam’s choice of the phrase "we are the next day" comes amid reports by Israeli media on Israel’s potential acceptance of the departure of some or all Hamas leaders from Gaza to another country. However, this proposal is likely to be totally rejected by the Hamas group which resisted the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza over 15 months.

The message by Hamas also follows statements by US President Donald Trump regarding a proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, Jordan, and other parts of the world, and to take over Gaza.

At the site in Deir al-Balah city, hundreds of Al-Qassam Brigades' fighters were seen taking part in the handing-over ceremony, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Within the fifth batch of the prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Hamas group, the latter is expected to hand over three Israeli captives in exchange for freeing 183 Palestinians from Israeli jails, including 18 who are serving life-term sentences and 54 serving high-term sentences.

A ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.