The Palestinian group says it will soon publish a list of prisoners to be released by West Jerusalem as part of the deal
Hamas and Israel have been able to remove the roadblocks to the comprehensive ceasefire deal reached earlier this week, the Palestinian group has said.
In a statement on Friday, Hamas said that “the obstacles that arose due to the occupation’s failure to abide by the terms of the ceasefire agreement were resolved at dawn today.” It did not elaborate on the nature of the hurdles, but noted that “the movement sought a national exchange deal from all factions and members of our people.”
The group added that it became possible thanks to “generous efforts of the mediators.” While it did not name the countries, Qatar and Egypt have been particularly deeply involved in facilitating the peace process.
The group also noted it would soon publish the lists of Palestinian prisoners to be freed as part of the first phase of the exchange deal.
On Wednesday, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire in a bid to end their 15-month conflict in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of over 1,100 Israelis and 46,000 Palestinians.The deal, which was mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, is split into three phases. During the first phase, which is to last 42 days,Hamas expected to release 33 hostages, including children, female soldiers, wounded and sick, in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinians.
The latter stages, which have not yet been worked out in detail, will presumably see the release of the remaining hostages and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, according to US President Joe Biden. Following the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of backtracking on parts of the agreement and trying to “extort last-minute concessions.”
Hamas has stressed it remains committed for the deal while accusing West Jerusalem of launching an attack on “a place where one of the female prisoners of the first stage of the ceasefire deal was located.”