Israel releases Palestinian prisoners, sends negotiators to Cairo

In the first stage of the multistage ceasefire agreement with Hamas, Israel has released the last of the Palestinian prisoners who have been freed, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who sent a team of negotiators to Cairo for further discussions of the fragile truce.

Following yet another Israeli delay and after Hamas handed over the remains of four Israeli prisoners, 641 prisoners were released on Thursday, including more than 450 who arrived in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.

Mohammed Abu Amsha, a released Palestinian prisoner, arrived in Khan Younis on Thursday and claimed that he only received one meal per day because of his horrific conditions while incarcerated.

“They used to beat and humiliate us,” they said. Sick people got no medical treatment. We haven’t had access to change of clothes since the first day of our detention because there are many skin conditions in prisons,” Abu Amsha told Al Jazeera.

In exchange for 25 living captives and the remains of eight other prisoners who had been held in Gaza, Israel has released more than 2, 000 prisoners and detainees in the first phase of the ceasefire, which ended last month.

Israeli forces continued to violate the ceasefire, with troops killing 17 people in the past 48 hours, according to Palestinian health officials, despite Israel’s ceasefire being stopped and Israeli troops withdrew from some positions in Gaza.

Additionally, phase one of the ceasefire’s humanitarian protocol has not been put into effect.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from the Jordanian capital Amman, said Israel “hasn’t allowed enough humanitarian assistance in the form of tents, mobile homes, and the like”.

Israeli delegation to Cairo

The initial phase will end on Friday. Egypt reported that Cairo, the capital, and Egypt have just begun discussions on the second phase.

Officials from Israel, key mediator Qatar, and the United States started “intensive discussions” on the ceasefire accord’s second phase in Cairo, Egypt’s state information service said in a statement.

In order to promote stability in the region and ease the suffering of the population, the mediators are also discussing ways to improve the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

The second phase also includes ensuring that the last of Israel’s forces leaves Gaza and that they are completely resurrected.

Less than half of the 59 captives still being held in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities, are still alive.

Israel announced on Thursday that it would be sending a delegation to Cairo to meet with mediators following the exchange.

Gideon Saar, the foreign minister of Israel, earlier on Thursday, stated to reporters in Jerusalem that the delegation would visit Egypt to assess potential agreement over a second phase of the truce.

“We indicated that we were willing to extend the framework in exchange for the release of more hostages.” If it is possible, we’ll do that”.

While some far-right officials want to go back to war, Israel’s government is under public pressure to extend the ceasefire and secure the release of the remaining captives.

Hamas earlier on Thursday stated that the only way to release the Palestinians who are still imprisoned in Gaza is through commitment to the ceasefire.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen stated to public broadcaster Kan hours before the talks started that Israel had demanded that the military remain in the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

On Saturday, Israeli forces are scheduled to begin their withdrawal from the Gaza-Egypt border area and finish it in eight days. Egypt, which opposes any Israeli presence on the Gaza side of its border, did not immediately comment on the corridor.

More than 48, 000 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian health officials. The crowded coastal enclave has been destroyed by the war, which has repeatedly forced the majority of its residents to flee.

Source: Aljazeera