Hostage families ask govt to start negotiating for release of next batch of hostages immediately
In the first stage of the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, Israel is expected to be releasing a total of 1,904 Palestinian prisoners.
They include 737 detainees and security prisoners, including numerous terrorists serving life sentences for murder, among them members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, along with women and children being held in Israeli jails.
Israel will also be releasing 1,167 Palestinians detained in the Gaza Strip during the IDF’s ground offensive, who did not participate in the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
On Sunday, the first three female hostages from the list of 33 humanitarian cases — a category made up of women, children, elderly individuals, and the infirm — are set to be released.
The other 30 hostages on the list will be released each Saturday until the end of the 42-day deal.
The hostages will be released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners detailed in the terms of the deal.
For each of the living women, children and elderly, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released; for all nine sick hostages, 110 prisoners will be released; for each of the female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners will be released; for hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza for a decade, 30 prisoners will be released for each, in addition to 47 Palestinians released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal and re-arrested; and for the bodies of hostages in the first stage, Israel will release the 1,000+ Gazan detainees.
Hostage families urge government not to wait for day 16 to begin negotiating next stage of truce deal
Meanwhile, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum has urged the government to start work negotiating the next phases of the hostage-ceasefire deal ahead of the 16-day target agreed under the current deal.
“We, the families of the 98 hostages, welcome the agreement intended to bring all hostages home. This represents a significant and crucial advancement that brings us closer to the moment when we will see all hostages return home—the living to rehabilitate among their families, and the deceased for proper burial,” the forum said in a statement.
“We urgently call for swift arrangements to ensure all phases of the deal are implemented, and emphasize that negotiations for the next phases must begin before day 16,” they said.
They also note that today is the second birthday of the youngest hostage Kfir Bibas.
“Today also marks Kfir Bibas’ second birthday—both of his birthdays have been spent in Hamas captivity. This unconscionable tragedy must end now,” the statement said, urging the public to attend rallies later this evening “to demand the guarantee of returning the last hostage!”
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