The sixth exchange between Hamas and Israel took place on Saturday despite the truce facing shaky ground following Israeli violations.
Palestinian movement Hamas has handed over three more Israeli captives on Saturday in return for the release of 369 Palestinian prisoners, in the sixth captives-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas as a part of the Gaza ceasefire.
The three captives – Israeli-Argentinian Iair Horn, American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, and Israeli-Russian Alexander Troufanov – were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Khan Younis.
The exchange site was near the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s destroyed home, and had posters and banners around the stage were the captives were handed over that read “No migration except to Jerusalem”.
The banner was in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest comments on his plan to “take over the Gaza Strip” and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homes in the besieged enclave by “resettling them” to neighbouring Arab nations.
The sixth exchange came under fragile circumstances with Hamas announcing last Wednesday that it would halt the release of captives, citing Israeli violations of the truce terms.
These violations included obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid, mobile caravans, and heavy machinery into Gaza, as well as hindering the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.
Since the first phase of the ceasefire began on January 19, Israeli forces have killed over 100 Palestinians.
Biggest release of Palestinian detainees
The exchange marks the largest release of Palestinian prisoners as a part of the truce to date.
Of the 369 prisoners released, 333 are from the Gaza Strip, having been detained after the October 7, 2023 attacks. They were transported back to the besieged enclave in seven buses and taken to the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
At least 29 of the prisoners are from the occupied West Bank, with releases occurring in Ramallah, including 48-year-old Ahmed Barghouti, a close aide to Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.
Both men were arrested during the Second Intifada in 2002. Barghouti, originally sentenced to 13 life sentences, is reportedly set to be deported to Egypt following his release.
The remaining seven are from Jerusalem.
Amor Abou Radaha, one of the prisoners freed in Ramallah on Saturday, recalled the maltreatment of Palestinian detainees.
“For a year and a half we had not had any communication with the outside world and we were completely isolated,” he told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.
The prisoners released appeared emaciated and bore signs of beatings and torture. They were also forced by the Israeli Prison Service to wear sweatshirts with the slogan “We will not forgive or forget” written in Arabic.
“Everything was bad in prison,” Abu Hussein Khaled Al-Heelah, a released prisoner from the Gaza Strip told local Palestinian agency Al-Quds Network. “Thank you to the world for forsaking us,” he added sarcastically.
Gaza ceasefire
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States reached a deal between Hamas and Israel on January 15 after over a year of stalled negotiations. The truce came into effect four days later.
Since the beginning of the Gaza truce, 19 Israeli captives and five Thai workers have been released from the Gaza Strip, whereas 766 Palestinian prisoners have been freed from Israeli jails.
The truce’s first phase of three entails the release of 33 captives in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians detainees. Each phase is set to last 42 days, and talks for the second phase have reportedly begun.
Israel has killed at least 61,709 Palestinians in the Strip, with thousands of others still believed to be trapped under the rubble, according to figures by Gaza’s Government Media Office.
