Israeli occupation forces on Monday released 83 Palestinian detainees serving life sentences from Ofer Prison, as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Earlier today, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that it had received 20 Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip in two groups and handed them over to the Israeli authorities.
Under the exchange deal, Israeli occupation authorities are set to release 250 Palestinian detainees serving long life sentences — 83 from Ofer Prison and 167 from Ketziot Prison — in addition to 1,718 others arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip after October 7, 2023.
According to Palestinian institutions concerned with detainees' affairs, Israel currently holds more than 11,100 Palestinians in its prisons, amid dire conditions including torture, starvation, and systematic medical neglect, which have led to several deaths in custody. This figure does not include those held in Israeli military camps. The number of detainees from the Gaza Strip has risen to over 4,000 since the start of the war.
The number of detainees sentenced to life imprisonment has reached 350, with indictments filed paving the way for additional sentences. There are 53 female prisoners, including three from Gaza and two girls, as well as about 400 children held in Ofer and Megiddo prisons. The number of administrative detainees — held without trial — has reached around 3,380 as of October, the institutions reported. (QNA)
