Exchange of Hamas hostages for prisoners is brought forward

According to the US news site "Axios", there are fears both on the part of the Palestinian terrorist organization and within the Israeli government that the first, six-week phase of the ceasefire might not hold until the beginning of March as agreed - and that important demands would then remain unfulfilled.

Hamas has therefore proposed bringing forward the release of three hostages by a week and setting them free this Saturday along with three other abductees, "Axios" reported, citing two Israeli officials. In return, more than 100 Palestinian prisoners are to be released, including 47 senior Hamas cadres. Even before the six hostages, the bodies of four other abductees are to be handed over on Thursday, according to senior Hamas official Chalil al-Haja - including a mother and two small children with German citizenship.

Israel's government confirmed the agreement, to which Qatar and Egypt had contributed as mediators between the two warring parties. In return for the hostage bodies, Israel will reportedly release all women and minors who have been arrested since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023 and are not believed to have been involved in the armed struggle against Israel.

Release after a decade in Gaza?

This evening, the Forum of Hostage Families in Israel announced the names of the six hostages who are to be released from Hamas control on Saturday. They are three men named Omer Shem-Tov (22), Omer Wenkert (23) and Elijah Cohen (27), who were kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the attack by Islamist terrorists on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Tal Shoham (40), who was abducted from a kibbutz on the same day, and the two long-term hostages Hisham al-Sajid (36) and Avera Mengistu (39), who have been held in the Gaza Strip for a decade.

Al-Sajid is an Israeli Arab who, according to the Hostage Forum, is struggling with psychological problems. He crossed the border into the Gaza Strip on his own in 2015. The same applies to Mengistu, who has been held by Hamas since 2014. He is also said to have psychological problems.

As things stand at present, a total of eight dead people are to be handed over in the first phase of the agreement in addition to the six hostages released on Saturday - four of them in the sixth week of the ceasefire, according to Hamas official al-Haja. He also spoke of preparations for talks on a second phase of the agreement.

The first phase is due to end in less than two weeks. According to reports, both warring parties have not yet held any serious negotiations on the second phase of the deal - contrary to the agreement. It should lead to a final end to the war and the release of the remaining live hostages. Israeli media reported, citing Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, that the talks should begin this week.

Clinic in Gaza: deaths from Israeli shelling

Despite the current ceasefire, Palestinian reports indicate that there have again been fatalities in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli shelling. Tanks opened fire on Palestinians in the town of Rafah in the south of the coastal region, killing two people, according to a clinic. Israel's army said that troops had initially fired warning shots at a person approaching them. The suspect did not retreat, which is why further shots were fired. The military did not provide any information on possible victims.

In the evening, the Israeli army also announced that it had attacked weapons depots set up by the ousted Syrian leadership in the south of the neighboring country. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported loud explosions following an attack on a weapons depot. Since the fall of Syria's long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad at the beginning of December, Israel has massively expanded its attacks in the neighboring country - primarily to destroy military equipment there. After Islamist rebels seized power, troops were also deployed to the Syrian border region. Israel justifies its internationally criticized actions with security considerations.