Hamas says prisoner exchange with Israel may begin Monday under Gaza ceasefire deal

ISTANBUL

A senior Hamas member said Friday that a prisoner exchange with Israel may begin on Monday under a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

“The prisoner swap might start on Monday,” Mousa Abou Marzouq said in a televised interview.

He said Hamas intends not to militarize or publicly celebrate the handover process of captives.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel took effect at 12:00 pm local time (0900GMT) on Friday under US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan.

According to the agreement document published by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Hamas will release the living Israeli captives within 72 hours of Israel’s ratification of the deal.

The document also stipulates that Hamas will provide all information it holds on deceased Israeli captives to a joint mechanism to be established with the participation of Türkiye, Qatar, Egypt, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Israeli estimates indicate that 48 Israeli captives remain in Gaza, including 20 alive, while over 11,100 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, enduring torture, starvation, and medical neglect, with many having died, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.

Abu Marzouq said Hamas holds many negotiating cards.

“The prisoner file is one of the pretexts used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to justify continuing the war in Gaza,” he said.

The Hamas leader said his group is working with mediators “to overcome obstacles and secure the release of Palestinian leaders detained in Israeli prisons.”

-Withdrawal lines

Abu Marzouq said the Israeli army has withdrawn to the “yellow line” but still controls 53% of the Gaza Strip’s territory.

“The withdrawal lines set by the occupation are inaccurate and drawn arbitrarily,” he said. “Hamas will not accept any future Israeli presence in areas it currently controls.”

Abu Marzouq also revealed that the US has sent troops to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire.

“These troops will not be stationed inside Gaza, but rather in Israel,” he said.

He said the next stage will focus on the “national project” and discussions over the potential deployment of peacekeeping forces in both Gaza and the West Bank.

-Internal Palestinian file

Abu Marzouq called on the Palestinian Authority to convene a comprehensive national meeting to reach a consensus on major national issues, stressing that unity is the only way-out of the Palestinian crisis.

He said Hamas accepted Trump’s ceasefire plan “to safeguard the supreme interests of the Palestinian people.”

“Hamas will not decide the fate of the Palestinian people alone — it is a collective and national decision that requires full consensus.”

Trump announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a 20-point plan he laid out on Sept. 29 to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, release all Israeli captives being held there in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip.

A second phase of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas’ participation, the formation of a security force comprising Palestinians and troops from Arab and Islamic countries, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 67,200 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.