Hamas swaps bodies of four hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners

BarcelonaHundreds of Palestinian prisoners were released early Thursday from Israeli jails after Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages in the sixth exchange of the Gaza ceasefire. Unlike previous exchanges, the Palestinian militia has carried out the handover without ceremony, as Israel demanded. Israel confirms the identity of the bodies of the hostages: they are four men aged between 50 and 86, one of them a dual Israeli-French national. The Palestinians released from Israeli jails are 641, divided into three groups: 502 were returned to Gaza, 97 were deported to Egypt and 42 were released to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

This Saturday marks the end of the first phase of the ceasefire that came into effect on January 19 with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and the United States. It is not clear whether the truce will continue or whether the second phase will be entered into, which envisages the completion of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip and the release of the 59 hostages still held by Hamas, of whom 35 have been declared dead.

The agreement was unblocked on Wednesday: since last Saturday was blocked by Israel's refusal to release the 600 Palestinian prisoners The Netanyahu government did not hand over the Palestinians, saying the handover ceremonies for Israeli hostages were degrading, and Hamas called this a violation of the agreement and said it would not release any more hostages.

A visit is now planned by Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has argued that negotiations for the second phase should continue. Witkoff has also spoken of a summit of property developers to discuss the future of Gaza, and the US president published A macabre video generated by artificial intelligence where he is seen with Netanyahu sunbathing on a beach in the Strip.

Trump has again said that he will support Netanyahu if he decides to return to war. Russia, which is negotiating with the United States a ceasefire in Ukraine without Europe or the Ukrainians, has positioned itself against Trump's plans: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has met with the Emir of Qatar in Doha, has described it as a "ticking time bomb".

Funerals were held in Israel yesterday for the Bibas family, who died in captivity in Gaza. Shiri Bibas (32) and her sons Ariel (4) and Kfrir (9) were buried a week after Hamas handed over their bodies within the ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian militia reported in November 2023 that the three had died in an Israeli bombing, along with their captors. The Israeli army denies this. The ceremony was private, but thousands of people accompanied the family to the southern Israeli city where mother and children were buried alongside their maternal grandparents, killed in the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz. The father, who survived captivity and was released by Hamas under the agreement, expressed his gratitude for the support he received.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains desperate. Several Palestinian and international organisations have warned of the situation of many civilian prisoners, including 162 medical professionals from the Strip who were imprisoned after the Israeli army raided hospitals, and according to the NGO Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), they remain in Israeli custody. Among them is Dr Husham Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who was the last to leave the centre under Israeli siege. An Israeli television channel showed images a few days ago from inside Ofer prison, visibly weakened. The detention of medical personnel is illegal under international law and aggravates the humanitarian crisis in the Strip. After the systematic destruction of all the infrastructure that makes life possible in Gaza, at least six babies have died of cold in the last two weeks and the prefabricated houses promised in the ceasefire agreement have still not arrived.