Mediators confident captive-and-prisoner exchange will be successful: Qatar
Majed al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, says a “logistical delay” in getting the names of the captives that are due to be released was the reason for the delayed implementation of the ceasefire.
“In November 2023, we had an exchange of similar parameters taking place and therefore we are not new to the difficulties of the last-minute exchange of information, including the names of prisoners and captives to be exchanged,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Within the operations of maintaining the ceasefire and implementing the deal, there are a lot of logistical difficulties that have to do with the situation on the ground,” he added. “Communication and movement in Gaza is not easy and therefore it takes sometimes more time than expected, but thankfully we were able to resolve it and now we have the ceasefire in place and aid starting to go into Gaza.”
Al-Ansari also expressed confidence that the captive-and-prisoner exchange later today will be “successful”. The operations room of the mediators is in Egypt and is “working right now as we speak on making sure that the exchange today happens seamlessly”, he added.
When asked about Netanyahu’s statement that he may resume the war if the ceasefire isn’t fully implemented, al-Ansari said the mediators’ centre of attention has been the deal at hand.
“Our focus from day one was always on getting the deal through, getting the deal signed, implementing that deal on the ground,” he told Al Jazeera. “If we are going to listen to every political statement being made by officials here and there, you know, this deal would never have come to fruition.”
Al-Ansari also stated that both the outgoing and incoming US administrations were “very instrumental in getting the deal through”.
“We really appreciate that the transition team – while we know the pressures of the transition period – have allocated so much effort and time to make sure that the deal happens and it’s a statement by President Trump that we look very favourably upon that called for an end to the war and for the beginning of the truce, and this is exactly what is happening right now,” he said.
The official thanked all those who supported the deal, saying it “led to the moment that we have right now, when the people of Gaza can look to their skies and see hope rather than death and destruction raining upon them”.
Israel Prison Service receives list of Palestinian prisoners to be released
A spokesperson says the Israel Prison Service is working on the procedure for the release of the Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the agreement.
The service has received a list of prisoners, who will be transferred to the central reception point in Ofer Prison, near Ramallah.
Upon arrival, the prisoners will be identified by Red Cross representatives and will wait until the arrival of the Israeli captives held in Gaza. The Red Cross will then transfer the Palestinian prisoners from Ofer prison to the release points.
Palestinian prisoners to be released are from occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem
According to initial information, all the Palestinian prisoners that are due to be released are from the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
The list includes 69 women and 21 children.
Khalida Jarrar and 12 youths on list of Palestinian prisoners to be released
Al Jazeera has received the list of 90 Palestinian prisoners who will be released under the exchange deal that will see the release of three female Israeli civilian captives.
The list includes the name of Khalida Jarrar, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the occupied West Bank. Others on the list include at least 12 young Palestinian men, some of them under 19 years of age, and minors.
According to Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, many children and minors have been arrested for charges related to throwing rocks at Israeli forces.
“We are talking about light sentences,” she said. “The list of prisoners, the hundreds of names that have been released, are mostly serving administrative detention, which is a tactic used by Israeli policy to keep people in prison indefinitely without charges. These administrative detentions keep getting renewed over and over again.”
Essay Pro