Israel has begun releasing 602 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies of four slain hostages, with the first bus of prisoners arriving in Ramallah, Israeli media reported Wednesday night.
The slain hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross at the Kerem Shalom crossing without a Hamas propaganda ceremony like those seen in previous releases. After the remains are all confirmed by Israeli authorities, additional prisoners will be released from various prisons in Israel to either the West Bank or Gaza.
The Palestinian prisoners due to be released include 445 men and 24 women and minors arrested in Gaza, as well as 151 prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, according to a Hamas source.
Before being put on busses, "Our eyes are watching you" was projected onto a building visible from Ofer Prison, where some of the prisoners were serving terms.
The first batch of prisoners from Wednesday's release were dropped in Ramallah to cheering crowds and celebrations, Reuters reported.
המסר שהוקרן על אחד הבניינים שמשקיפים על כלא עופר: "העיניים שלנו צופות בכם" | תיעוד@OmerShahar123 צילום: מתוך שידור חי של AP pic.twitter.com/JxpK1ZmjEd
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 26, 2025
Prisoners' release delayed
On Monday, Hamas announced that it had reached an agreement with Israel in regards to returning the bodies of the remaining phase one hostage's remains in exchange for over 600 Palestinian prisoners who were not released last Saturday.
“An agreement was reached to solve the problem of the occupation delaying the release of the prisoners who should have been released in the last batch, provided that they are released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners agreed to be handed over, in addition to the corresponding number of Palestinian women and children,” Hamas said in a Tuesday statement.
The prisoner's planned Saturday release was postponed because Hamas did not properly return Shiri Bibas's remains in the first handover of the hostages' bodies on Friday. Instead, the terrorist organization initially returned an anonymous woman's body, whose DNA did not match any of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The delay with Bibas's remains, alongside other violations of the ceasefire-hostage deal, led the Prime Minister's office to pause the release of any prisoners.
“Due to Hamas’s repeated violations – including ceremonies that disgrace our hostages’ dignity and the cynical use of hostages for propaganda purposes – it has been decided to delay the release of the terrorists planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages is ensured, without the degrading ceremonies,” the PMO said in a statement.
Hamas has put on ceremonies for every hostage release so far and invited Gazans to spectate. Often, there have been disturbing posters, and living hostages have been forced to do degrading things such as kiss Hamas troops on the forehead.
Who is being released?
Several high-profile terrorists are being released in this exchange.
Nael al-Barghouthi, one of the longest-serving Palestinian terrorists in the Israeli prison system, was released for the second time on Wednesday night.
The 65-year-old Ramallah native was initially arrested in 1978 for killing an Israeli soldier. He was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Schalit deal but then was re-arrested in 2014. After his release, he married Iman Nafe, who had also spent 10 years in an Israeli jail accused of attempting to plan a suicide operation in Jaffa.
Barghouti was initially arrested as a member of Fatah when he was given his life sentence in 1978, but later joined Hamas.
He will be deported to Egypt upon his release.
Arab media reported that Hamza Al-Kalouti, a commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades who was arrested in 2000, will be released today.
Hamas sources said on Telegram that he returned to his home in Jerusalem.
Hussam Abu Safia, the former head of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, will be released today. He was arrested last year after the IDF carried out a raid on the hospital.
Reuters and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.