DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Sixth captive to be handed over by Hamas to Israeli authorities in Gaza Metropolis with out a ceremony.
Hamas has launched 5 Israeli captives from Gaza in alternate for a whole lot of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons within the closing swap below the primary section of the ceasefire between the Palestinian group and Israel.
The primary two captives, Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu, had been handed over to the Purple Cross in Rafah in southern Gaza on Saturday after they had been led onto a stage by armed Hamas fighters.
Three extra captives – Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert and Omer Shem Tov – had been later launched to Purple Cross officers in Nuseirat in central Gazain a separate ceremony.
Palestinian sources informed Al Jazeera that Hisham al-Sayed, the sixth captive, can be handed over to Israeli authorities with out a ceremony.
The 37-year-old Bedouin Israeli, who was taken captive when he entered Gaza in April 2015, is anticipated to be handed over at a location in Gaza Metropolis within the northern a part of the enclave.
The six are the final from a bunch of 33 to be freed within the first stage of the ceasefire, which took impact on January 19.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Nuseirat, stated a big crowd has gathered to witness the discharge of the three captives.
“We see reinforcements from the Qassam Brigades as a way to keep order and security of the method,” he reported, referring to Hamas’s armed wing. “In contrast with previous handovers, the scene right here at Nuseirat seems to be extra organised.”
Our correspondent stated that Hamas didn’t give any reason why there was a last-minute change of the plan to launch 4 captives in Nuseirat.
Chatting with Al Jazeera earlier than the discharge, Professor Sami al-Arian from Istanbul Zaim College stated the flowery staging of the handover is a means for Hamas to sign it’s accountable stakeholders by “exhibiting the entire world that they had been making an attempt to maintain them [the captives] alive, maintain them protected”.
In a while Saturday, Israel is anticipated to launch 602 Palestinians held in its jails. It consists of 445 individuals detained by Israeli forces throughout its battle on Gaza in addition to dozens serving prolonged or life phrases, in accordance with Hamas.
The delicate ceasefire had been threatened with derailment by the misidentification of a physique launched on Thursday as that of Shiri Bibas, who was taken captive along with her two younger sons and husband within the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, assaults on southern Israel.
Late on Friday, Hamas handed over Bibas’s physique, which her household stated had been confirmed to be hers.
