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Egypt says Israel to free over 1,890 Palestinians in first phase of Gaza truce

AFP/Cairo Published on January 18, 2025 | 09:02 PM

Family members of Abdelrahman al-Miqdad, 49, a Palestinian prisoner charged with planning attacks on Israelis and detained by Israel in Bethlehem in 2004, gather together to await news of his release at a displacement camp in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, following the Israeli cabinet's approval of a ceasefire dear amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. AFP

A man holds a phone for the uncle of Palestinian prisoner Zakaria Zubeidi to check a list of people set to be released tomorrow during a prisoner exchange as part of the deal to release Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants, as he sits in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on January 18, 2025. The ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin at 0630 GMT on January 19, mediator Qatar said after Israel's cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal. In more than 15 months of war between Hamas Palestinian militants and Israel, there has been only one previous truce, for one week, in November 2023 that also saw a hostage-prisoner exchange. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

The father of Mohammad al-Halabi, Palestinian aid worker and Gaza operations manager for ecumenical Christian humanitarian aid organisation World Vision International -- who was arrested at the Erez border crossing with Israel in 2016, reacts after he is notified of his release at a house in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, following the Israeli cabinet's approval of a ceasefire dear amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. AFP

The daughter of Mohammad al-Halabi, Palestinian aid worker and Gaza operations manager for ecumenical Christian humanitarian aid organisation World Vision International -- who was arrested at the Erez border crossing with Israel in 2016, holds a phone showing his picture as she sits with family members after they are notified of his release at a house in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday. AFP

Mediator Egypt said Saturday that Israel is to release more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages in the first phase of a Gaza truce.

The foreign ministry said the prisoners would be freed during the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire which is set to begin at 0630 GMT on Sunday.

Qatar, which mediated the deal along with Egypt and the United States, had announced 33 hostages would be released by militants in Gaza during the first phase.

Israel's justice ministry had earlier said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed -- none before 4pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.

Of the 251 people taken hostage during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Sunday's ceasefire will be only the second truce in 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip, which has claimed more than 50,000 lives and devastated the Palestinian territory.

The truce is to take effect on the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration for a second term as US president.

In its statement, Egypt's foreign ministry thanked fellow mediator Qatar and "appreciated the pivotal role played by the new US administration led by President Trump to end the crisis, as well as President (Joe) Biden."