Palestinian Israeli War
Jerusalem, Feb 27 (EFE).-
A bus carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah at midnight on Thursday, coinciding with the exchange without ceremony of four bodies of Israeli hostages by Hamas in Gaza.
Pending confirmation by Israel of the identity of the bodies at the Kerem Shalom crossing, Hamas announced that the bodies to be handed over were those of Itzik Elgarat, 70; Ohad Yahalomi, 50; Shlomo Mansur, 85; and Tsahi Idan, 50.
Egyptian representatives supervised the exchange, Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, confirmed to EFE.
The Israeli Health Ministry announced on Wednesday afternoon that the bodies would be taken to the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the southeastern corner of Gaza to be identified and then will go to Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv to determine the cause of death.
After the handover of these four bodies of Israeli prisoners, Israel is expected to release some 600 Palestinian prisoners who were due to be released on Feb. 22, corresponding to the six hostages released and the four bodies of prisoners handed over by Hamas last week.
The delay in the release by Israel follows protests by the Israeli government at the public ceremonies with propaganda messages organized by Hamas for the releases and the handover of the bodies, something that did not happen on Thursday night with the handover of the four bodies to the Red Cross.
The Red Cross bus that carried the first released Palestinian prisoners left Israel’s Ofer prison and took half an hour to arrive at the Ramallah Cultural Palace, where dozens of people were waiting for the prisoners.
According to live coverage by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media network, the Palestinian prisoners were dressed in green tracksuits with Palestinian scarves around their necks.
Wajdi Ahmad, an official in the Ramallah governorate who coordinates the release of prisoners in Ramallah, told EFE that 32 prisoners were transferred to Ramallah.
The Red Crescent reported that its teams in Jerusalem received in an Israeli hospital the sick Palestinian prisoner Kazem Zawahra, who has been in a coma for several months and will be transferred to Al-Hussein Governmental Hospital in Beit Jala in the occupied West Bank.
The remaining Palestinian prisoners are expected to be transferred to Gaza, and from there, some (those with longer sentences) will be deported to Egypt, as agreed in the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire agreement (the first part ends on Saturday). EFE
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