Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for its 3 hostages. This will be the fifth exchange of hostages under the ceasefire deal recently held in Qatar. A total of 13 Israeli and 5 Thai hostages have been released since the agreement came into effect.
On 7 October 2023, thousands of Hamas fighters attacked Israel and took 1200 people hostage. With this, more than 250 people were taken hostage. A few hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war against Hamas.
The fighting between the two sides continued for 13 months. On January 19 this year, both sides agreed to a ceasefire.
Israeli delegation will go to Doha to discuss the ceasefire
Eli Sharab was taken hostage from the Kibbutz Beri area. Hamas attacked here and killed his wife Lian and daughters. At the same time, Ohad Ben Ami and his wife were kidnapped by the Kibbutz accountant. However, Ben Ami's wife was released under the ceasefire deal in 2023.
Computer programmer Or Levi was taken hostage from the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. His wife died during the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that after the exchange is completed, an Israeli delegation will go to Doha, the capital of Qatar, for further talks on the ceasefire.
The ceasefire deal will be completed in three phases.
The deal for the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Palestine began on January 19. This deal will be completed in three phases. In this, hostages will be exchanged for 42 days.
First phase:
- There will be a complete ceasefire in Gaza from January 19 to March 1. Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages. Israel will release 33 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one of its hostages every day. 50 Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for every Israeli female soldier.
Second phase:
- If everything goes well till the 16th day of the first phase, i.e. February 3, then talks will begin on the plan for the second phase. No attack will be carried out during this period. The remaining hostages will be released.
- Israel will release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, of which about 190 prisoners have been serving sentences for more than 15 years.
Third phase:
- In the last phase of this deal, Gaza will be resettled. This will take 3 to 5 years. The bodies of the hostages killed in Hamas's capture will also be handed over to Israel.
- Trump talked about capturing Gaz.
- This prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas is happening at a time when recently US President Donald Trump has talked about capturing Gaza. Trump says that he wants to capture Gaza and build a city resort there. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a US tour, has supported this plan.
Israel-Hamas have exchanged hostages four times so far...
First release - 19 January
Hamas released 3 female hostages: Reached Israel with the help of the Red Cross; and Ceasefire between both sides after 15 months.s
The ceasefire came into effect on Sunday, 19 January, 15 months after the war between Israel and Hamas. According to the Times of Israel, Hamas released 3 Israeli female hostages after 471 days. These three have reached Israel with the help of the Red Cross organization.
Second release - 25 January
Hamas released 4 Israeli female soldiers: Last week 3 Israeli hostages were handed over; Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners.s
