Israel Transfers Palestinian Prisoners Set to be Released to "Ofer" and "Ketziot" Prisons

SadaNews - Israel has transferred Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released early next week from the prisons where they have been held to the "Ofer" prison west of Ramallah and "Ketziot" in the Negev, in preparation for implementing a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

It is planned that the released prisoners from "Ofer" prison will be transferred to the occupied West Bank, while prisoners from "Ketziot" will be moved to the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The prisoner exchange between the two sides will be facilitated by Red Cross teams without any public ceremonies or media coverage, accompanied by an Egyptian delegation to the prisons "Ofer" and "Ketziot" to verify the identities of the Palestinian prisoners to be released.

The prisoner exchange deal, part of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, stipulates that Israel will release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, in addition to approximately 1,700 prisoners from Gaza who were arrested following the outbreak of war on October 7.

Among the prisoners set to be released are also 15 prisoners from the 48 Areas, while the rest are from the occupied West Bank.

This will occur simultaneously with Hamas releasing all Israeli prisoners it holds in one go, with Israeli estimates indicating that this will take place next Monday, as stated by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated in a joint statement on Friday evening that the occupation thwarted the release of a large and significant number of leaders of the prisoner movement during the indirect negotiations that took place in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The Israeli Ministry of Justice released on Friday the names of the prisoners serving life sentences scheduled to be released, while no list of names has been issued by Palestinian prisoner institutions up to the time of writing this report.