Hamas is set to hand over three Israeli hostages today in exchange for Palestinian detainees and prisoners in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal aimed at opening the way to ending the 15-month conflict in Gaza, Reuters reports.
Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy will be handed over, Hamas said.
In exchange, Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences and 111 detained in Gaza during the conflict, Hamas media office said.
A question mark hangs over the future of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and the success of the truce may come down to the US, according to the head of a UK-based rights group.
Gershon Baskin, Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation, and a former hostage negotiator, told media that talks on the second phase of the agreement have yet to begin, with Israel dispatching a junior team to Doha, Qatar, that has no authority to negotiate.
“Netanyahu has not sent the heads of the [negotiating] team, he’s talked about changing the heads of the negotiating team, perhaps to take more control and limit the ability of the team to negotiate a deal,” Baskin said, ahead of the latest captives-for-prisoners exchange.
“But there’s no doubt that watching the hostages come home, being reunited with their families […] it is strengthening the will of the Israeli public to see that this continues, particularly with regard to those hostages that are still alive,” he added.
The stage has been set at a site in central Gaza where three Israeli captives will be released by Hamas in just under an hour.
The captives will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
