On Wednesday, Israel shared details of Palestinian prisoners slated for release under a foreign-mediated deal to recover hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza, a publication that appeared intended to allow for any last-minute legal challenges.
The list posted on the Justice Ministry appeared to include 300 prisoners, twice the jailed 150 females and minors that Israel has agreed to free in return for 50 hostages in an initial four-day war pause that could lead to further releases.
Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that
among more than 7,800 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were about 85 women and 350 minors.
Most were detained without charges or for incidents such as hurling rocks at Israeli soldiers, not for launching militant attacks, he said.
Israel’s government and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a four-day pause in fighting to allow the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Officials from Qatar, which has been mediating secret negotiations, as well as the US, Israel, and Hamas have for days been saying a deal was imminent.
Hamas is believed to be holding more than 200 hostages, taken when its fighters surged into Israel on October 7.
A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting.
For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by another day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
“Israel’s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the statement.
Hamas said the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children who are held in Israeli
jails. The truce deal will also allow hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical, and fuel aid to enter Gaza, the Palestinian group said in a statement.
Israel had committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period, it added.
The Qatar government said 50 civilian women and children hostages would be released from Gaza in exchange for the release “of a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.”
The starting time of the truce would be announced within the next 24 hours, it said in a statement.
The accord is the first truce of a war in which Israeli bombardments have flattened swathes of Gaza, killed 13,300 civilians in the tiny densely populated enclave, and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless, according to authorities in Gaza.
