Hamas have handed three Israeli captives over to the Red Cross in an exchange for 369 Palestinians to be released later in the latest such swap under an ongoing truce deal.
The resistance movement fighters on Saturday paraded the captives onto a stage in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, where the Israelis addressed the crowd before their handover to the Red Cross.
The three men, holding gift bags given and a certificate to mark the end of their captivity, called for the completion of further exchanges of captives under the ceasefire deal, Press TV reported.
The release is the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19. It came after fears last week that the deal was near collapse after Israel’s refusal to allow enough humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said Israel was to release 369 inmates in exchange. Most of them are prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after the landmark October 7 operation inside southern settlements.
Sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the resistance groups had deployed about 200 fighters for the handover ceremony.
Hamas released a statement about the release of the three captives, saying the images of al-Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque at the handover site, as well as the large presence of Palestinians there, were a message to Israel and its backers “that they are a red line”.
“The release of the sixth batch of enemy prisoners confirms that there is no way to release them except through negotiations and by adhering to the requirements of the ceasefire agreement,” it said.
The group said the world watched the “resistance’s achievement” in the handover, which showed Palestinian cohesion.
The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump ignited a firestorm of controversy with his latest remarks suggesting that the US should “take over” Gaza, remove its people, and “own” the Palestinian territory.
He has proposed moving Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to Egypt and Jordan, arguing they would be “better off”.
Hamas, the governing authority in Gaza, has called Trump’s idea “ridiculous and absurd”.
Arab countries have vociferously reject Trump's plan, and Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a summit on the issue.
bd-pratidin/GR
