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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Hundreds of Palestinians freed from Israeli jails after weeklong hold up </h1><p class="gmail-">Tel
Aviv is hoping to extend the first phase of the agreement, and is
reportedly banking on resuming its war on Gaza with full intensity
</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">News Desk</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">FEB 27, 2025 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/hundreds-of-palestinians-freed-from-israeli-jails-after-weeklong-hold-up">https://thecradle.co/articles/hundreds-of-palestinians-freed-from-israeli-jails-after-weeklong-hold-up</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/af61e760-f4fc-11ef-9e15-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="394" height="222" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>(Photo credit: X)</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p>Hundreds of Palestinian <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/ar/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%A5%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%B9%D9%86-46-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7-/3494937">prisoners</a>
were let out from Israel’s prisons early on 27 February in exchange for
the handover of the bodies of four Israeli captives who were held in
Gaza, as part of the seventh and final round of exchanges for phase one
of the ceasefire. </p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p>The
bodies of the four Israeli captives were handed over silently and not
covered by the media, as Tel Aviv had demanded that Hamas refrain from
holding its customary captive release ceremony. </p><p>Five hundred and
ninety-six Palestinian prisoners were released overnight out of the 642
detainees whose release was held up by Israel last weekend. There are 46
other prisoners who are expected to be released in the coming hours,
which include women and children.</p><p>Among the released were those
with high sentences and life sentences. The prisoners were received in
the occupied West Bank and southern Gaza's city of Khan Yunis. Nearly
100 have been exiled to Egypt.</p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p>The
world’s longest-serving political prisoner, Nael al-Barghouti, referred
to as the “dean” of Palestinian detainees, was among those released and
exiled to Egypt.</p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p>He
spent 45 years in Israeli custody, including 34 consecutive years. He
was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit deal that saw 1,000
prisoners, including late Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, get released.
However, he was rearrested in 2014 and slapped with a renewed life
sentence. </p><p>US envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, is expected to
travel to Israel on Sunday to negotiate an extension of the first phase
of the ceasefire deal. </p><p>According to<a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/live-blog-israeli-army-paralyzed-on-oct-7-witkoff-no-evacuation-plan-day-509/"> reports</a>,
Israel is looking to violate the deal by maintaining its military
presence along the Philadelphi corridor on southern Gaza’s border with
Egypt. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that the
corridor will remain “a buffer zone just as the case is in Lebanon and
Syria.” Tel Aviv is also reportedly planning for a <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-wants-full-hamas-disarmament-buffer-zones-in-gaza-during-phase-two-of-ceasefire-talks-report">resumption</a> of
its brutal war against Gaza after having imposed new conditions,
including the full disarmament of Hamas and the release of all remaining
captives in a single swap. </p><p>According to a report by <i>Haaretz</i>, “as far as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is concerned, there is no second stage” of the deal. </p><p>The
report says Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer recently
told Witkoff that Netanyahu’s plan is to secure the release of all
captives in a single stage, and that Hamas will receive prisoners in
exchange. Otherwise, “Israel will return to intense warfare” and
reimplement a “version” of the Generals’ Plan – which saw the expulsion
of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from north Gaza, the killing of
thousands, and the destruction of the Gaza health sector.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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