Israel Releases Another 42 Palestinian Women, Children From Prison

More Trucks With Fuel, Aid Head To Gaza Another 42 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are to be released on Saturday as part of the agreement between the Israeli government and the Islamist Hamas movement, according to the Times of Israel newspaper. Israel will initially transfer the detainees to Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank for medical examinations by International Red Cross staff, according to the newspaper, which cited Israeli prison officials. Al Jazeera reported that the prisoners to be released include 18 women and 24 teenage boys. As a condition of the agreement, Hamas militants must first release Israeli hostages being held in Gaza before the Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli custody, according to the report. After their release, the Palestinians are to return to the places where they previously lived, for example in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. The first group of Palestinian prisoners consisted of minors and women held in Israeli prisons on offences ranging from stone-throwing to attacks on police officers, including some who were arrested but never faced trial, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.  Meanwhile, more trucks carrying humanitarian supplies moved through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the second day of a temporary truce agreed to by Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement. Seven fuel trucks, including four loaded with cooking gas, passed through the crossing on Saturday, an Egyptian official said. In addition, 100 trucks carrying food and medical aid bound for Gaza also crossed through Rafah, Dr Raed Abdel-Nasser, the head of the Red Crescent in Egypt’s northern Sinai, told dpa. The Palestinian Red Crescent, meanwhile, said its teams received 196 trucks of relief supplies via Rafah on Friday from its Egyptian counterpart. The truce agreement, which was brokered and announced by Qatar on Wednesday, involves a four-day pause in fighting between both sides. The pause will allow desperately needed aid to flow into the densely populated Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of some hostages Hamas kidnapped during bloody Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Israel also agreed to release a number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as part of the deal.