Hamas: Israeli detainees, especially conscripts, will not be released unless together with all Palestinian prisoners
Zaher Jabarin, member of the Political Bureau and head of the prisoner dossier of the Hamas movement, said that the prisoner exchange negotiations currently underway in Qatar with the participation of Egypt, Israel and the United States concern the release of all Palestinian prisoners . in Israeli prisons.
Jabarin told the Arab World News Agency from Doha yesterday (Wednesday) that Israeli prisoners, especially conscripts, will not be released until after all prisoners of all categories of the Palestinian people have been released.
He explained that the Hamas movement has enough soldiers for what he described as whitewashing Israeli prisons.
A source had informed the Arab World News Agency that there was progress towards extending the truce in Gaza for another two days, but Israel rejected a comprehensive ceasefire.
The source explained that the negotiation process is based on the same mechanism as the extended temporary truce, which involves exchanging 10 Israelis for 30 Palestinian women and children every day.
The truce that began in Gaza last Friday was supposed to end this morning for four days and then be extended for another two days.
A source from the Palestinian factions told the Arab World News Agency that the truce between Israel and Hamas is expected to be extended for Thursday and Friday and that there will be discussions about extending it for another two days.
Jabareen explained that the Hamas movement demands that adequate security conditions be provided to complete the exchange agreements with Israel “by releasing our prisoners in exchange for the release of Israeli prisoners.”
He said: “All Palestinian prisoners will soon be released from Israeli prisons,” stressing that Palestinian factions have “something to force” Israel to release all detainees.
He stressed that “all Palestinian and non-Palestinian prisoners will be released. There are Arabs who fought for Palestine, and they will all be released, and neither old nor young, nor children, nor women will remain in prisons, nor those in Gaza.” , neither from the West Bank, nor from the regions (Arabi 48).”
Regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners, women and children, remaining in Israeli prisons, Jabareen said there are 250 children and around 50 women.
Regarding the remaining Israeli women and children detained by Hamas, Jabareen confirmed that “there are no women and children detained by Hamas, and now we are talking about the rest of the civilian and military prisoners.”
Regarding the possibility that the ongoing violence and arrests in the West Bank will affect the progress of the negotiations, the Hamas official said: “The Palestinian people have been subjected to assaults and aggression for more than 75 years,” underlining that the battle with Israel continues .
He stressed that “the ceasefire at this stage focuses on the Gaza Strip and ending the massacres in Gaza, and there is no doubt that there are discussions about what is happening in the West Bank.”
He added: “We have called for an end to the aggression against all our Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, but now there is talk of stopping the genocide of our Palestinian people so we can move to the next phase of ending the aggression in all its forms and in all Palestinian arenas.”
Jabareen stressed that the Palestinian factions “have strong pressure cards for negotiations.”
Regarding the possibility of re-arresting the released Palestinian prisoners, Jabareen said: “We are discussing with the mediators, and I was in a session where we are studying how to strengthen this agreement from a legal point of view, and internationally. guarantees for this agreement” so that Israel does not fail to fulfill its promises and commitments.
Jabareen pointed out that even if the Israelis arrested more Palestinians, there would be children who would be sentenced to ten and fifteen years in prison, “and some of them spend 45 years in prison, and the world hasn’t heard of it, and our The primary objective is to first free these people, and then make the world see the injustice.”
He continued: “Today the world knows that we have more than 400 Palestinian children prisoners in Israeli prisons and more than 100 Palestinian women in prisons, which the world has not heard” thanks to the prisoner exchange agreement.
Regarding the release of one prisoner from Gaza in exchange for dozens from the West Bank and Jerusalem, Jabareen said: “This is normal. More than 90% of Palestinian prisoners are from the West Bank. There were 8,500 Palestinian prisoners. The number of prisoners among the population of Gaza does not exceed 150-200 prisoners and more than 8 thousand prisoners from Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Jabareen stressed that “not all detainees are held by (Hamas), but the movement is authorized by all factions to negotiate, and the world saw how the men of the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades came out together to deliver the hostages.”
Regarding the existence of disagreements over the names of the released people, Jabareen stressed that “this conflict is difficult,” noting that Israel is sensitive about some names and stops short on some details, stressing that “there are obstacles, but the resistance has documents , and imposes its conditions to end this suffering against our people.”
The Hamas leader said: “We have prisoners in Israeli prisons for 44 and 35 years, others who have been sentenced to 6,000 years in prison and more than a thousand prisoners who have been sentenced to life imprisonment, and it was not possible to release them unless with an exchange of loyalty to set them free again.”
“Loyalty of freedom” is the name given by the Hamas movement to the exchange agreement, under which it freed the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, detained for years, in exchange for the release of over a thousand Palestinian men and women. prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Regarding the handing over of some detainees in northern Gaza instead of handing them over to the Egyptian authorities through the Rafah crossing, Jabareen said that Israel claimed to control land in the Strip after the attack that began on October 7, and that the Palestinian prisoners were were graduated “in a shameful way, so we wanted to send… A clear message to you and to the world, and the message was received”.