The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has handed over the bodies of four Israeli prisoners to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The prisoners were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip.
The handover, part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Tel Aviv, took place on Thursday, 20 February, in Khan Younis. Hamas stated that the decision reflects its commitment to upholding the truce in pursuit of lasting peace in war-ravaged Palestine.
“The four prisoners—a mother, her two children, and an elderly journalist—were killed in Israeli airstrikes during the 15-month-long genocidal war that has claimed the lives of at least 48,284 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children,” Hamas stated. “To the families of Bibas and Lifshitz: we would have preferred for your loved ones to return to you alive, but your army and government leaders chose to kill them rather than bring them back,” the statement added.
“They died along with 17,881 Palestinian children in Israel’s criminal bombardment of Gaza, and we know you understand who is truly responsible for their deaths. You have been betrayed by a government that does not value its own people.”
Hamas asserted that the Israeli military deliberately targeted detention sites, killing prisoners in its relentless bombings. It placed full responsibility on the Israeli leadership, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, it said, had obstructed multiple prisoner exchange agreements.
“Today, the criminal Netanyahu sheds tears over the bodies of his prisoners returned in coffins, desperately trying to escape accountability for their deaths,” Hamas stated.
The movement emphasised that it had done everything in its power to protect the prisoners and ensure their safety, “but Israel’s relentless and barbaric airstrikes made it impossible to safeguard all detainees.”
On Saturday, Hamas announced that it would also release six more Israeli prisoners in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, half of whom are women and children unlawfully taken by the occupying regime during the war.
The handover comes a day after Hamas declared its readiness to release all Israeli prisoners in a single exchange as part of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Israel and Hamas are currently implementing the first phase of the truce, which began on 19 January. So far, 19 Israeli prisoners have been freed in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian detainees. By the end of this phase, 58 Israeli prisoners will remain in Gaza. According to the Israeli military, 34 of them are believed to be dead.
