Abderaouf Arnaout
17 January 2025•Update: 18 January 2025
JERUSALEM
Israel plans to release 1,977 Palestinian prisoners, including 290 serving life sentences and 1,687 detained on various other charges, as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange and cease-fire agreement in Gaza, which will go into effect on Sunday, according to Israeli media.
Tel Aviv will release the Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages who are currently being held in the Gaza Strip, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The agreement includes the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners detained after Oct. 7, 2023, as well as 47 prisoners who were re-arrested despite their release in the 2011 prisoner swap deal.
The exchange will be carried out in seven phases over the first 42 days, according to the agreement.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday that the first day of the agreement will see the release of three Israeli hostages, followed by four on the seventh day, and three on the 14th, 21st, 28th, and 35th days, with the final group of 14 hostages to be released in the last week of the first phase.
A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's office confirmed that the exchange process is expected to begin Sunday after approval by the Security Cabinet and government.
The Israeli Ministry of Justice and later the Israel Prisons Service will publish a list of the prisoners to be included in the first phase of the deal.
According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, Israel is currently holding 10,400 Palestinians, including 600 serving life sentences.
Late Wednesday evening, Qatar announced a three-phase cease-fire agreement to end over 15 months of deadly Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, with the cease-fire set to take effect on Sunday.
Nearly 46,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 110,000 injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to local health authorities.
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.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi
