As part of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Israel is releasing 602 Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for the release of 6 Israeli hostages by Hamas, the armed political group that controls the Gaza Strip. They will be released on Saturday (February 22).
This information was reported by Indian media NDTV in a report on Saturday (February 22).
The report said that a prisoner exchange is underway between Israel and Hamas as part of the ceasefire agreement. Hamas will release six Israelis at 8 am local time on Saturday. In exchange, 602 Palestinians will be released from Israel.
Four of the hostages, Elia Cohen (27), Tal Shoham (40), Omar Shem Tov (22) and Omar Wenkart (23). They were captured by Hamas gunmen during an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The other two, Hisham al-Sayed (36) and Avera Mengistu (39), have been held by Hamas since they entered Gaza under unknown circumstances nearly a decade ago.
Meanwhile, Arab leaders are gathering in Saudi Arabia to implement a new plan for Gaza. The Arab leaders are going to sit together to block the plan that the US president has presented for the occupation of Gaza.
Arab states are opposing Trump's plan for Gaza. However, there is disagreement over who will govern the besieged valley.
Andreas Krieg, an expert at King's College London, said, "We are at a very important historical juncture in the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict where the United States, under Trump's leadership, can potentially create new facts that are irreversible.
A source close to the Saudi government said Arab leaders will discuss a reconstruction plan against Trump's plan for Gaza.
On the other hand, 22 more bodies have been recovered from the rubble in the besieged Gaza Strip in Palestine. With this, the total number of deaths in the strip has exceeded 48,300. This information was reported in a report on Thursday (February 20) by the Anadolu news agency.