Palestinian Prisoners to Be Freed After All Gaza Hostages Confirmed to Be in Israel
Israel will begin releasing Palestinian prisoners once it has confirmation that all hostages held in Gaza have arrived in the country, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said Sunday.
"Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel," Shosh Bedrosian told journalists.
During previous ceasefires, the remains of some hostages were identified by forensic experts after their return to Israel.
Bedrosian said that pending the identification, the Palestinian prisoners would be on buses ready to depart.
"As soon as we have confirmation that they (hostages) have entered Israeli territory, those buses will depart and begin their journey," she said.
She said the release of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip for more than two years was expected to begin early Monday morning.
Israel and Hamas have approved the first phase of a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, aimed at ending the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Under the terms of the plan, Hamas is to release by Monday noon the remaining 47 hostages (living and dead) who were abducted on October 7.
It is also expected to hand over the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war.
During the last truce, the identification of deceased hostages was only confirmed after autopsies at Israel's Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.
"We are expecting all 20 of our living hostages to be released together at one time to the Red Cross and transported among six to eight vehicles," Bedrosian said.
"The hostages will then be driven to forces inside of Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza and then transferred to the Reim base in southern Israel, where they will then reunite with their families."
They will then be taken to "one of three main hospitals".
"Ten hostages will be sent to Sheba Medical Center, five hostages at Beilinson, and five hostages will receive treatment at Ichilov," Bedrosian said, referring to three hospitals in central Israel that have been equipped to receive the released captives.
As for the Palestinian prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were detained by the Israeli military in Gaza after the war broke out.
Hamas insists that the list of prisoners Israel is set to release under a Gaza ceasefire deal includes seven senior Palestinian leaders, sources close to negotiators told AFP Sunday.
"Hamas insists that the final list include seven senior leaders, most notably Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas Al-Sayyed," a source said. The detail was confirmed by a second source.
The first source also said that Hamas and its allied groups had "completed all preparations" for handing over to Israel all the living hostages and some of the deceased ones held in Gaza.
