Israeli authorities have released 42 people from the seventh and final group of Palestinian prisoners as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, WAFA news agency reported.
According to the media, 37 people have arrived in the administrative capital of the Palestinian territories on the West Bank, the city of Ramallah. Five more were taken to Jerusalem.
Earlier, Arab television channels showed footage showing a bus of the International Committee of the Red Cross arriving in Ramallah, where it was greeted by a large crowd.
The seventh group includes 641 Palestinians, including 151 sentenced to life imprisonment, as well as 445 Gazans, including 45 women and children, who were arrested after October 7, 2023, when radicals from the Palestinian enclave carried out an attack on Israeli territory, accompanied by killings in border settlements and hostage-taking.
The ceasefire agreement in Gaza experienced another critical moment when, on the night of February 23, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Jewish state had decided to postpone the planned release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners on February 22, while Hamas abandon the "humiliating" ceremony" when releasing Israeli hostages or handing over dead bodies in the Gaza Strip.
Last night, however, the radicals announced that Israel would release a group of Palestinians who were supposed to be released on February 22, in exchange for the bodies of four abductees.
Meanwhile, it became clear that at least 15 children had died in the Gaza Strip recently from hypothermia and related complications, the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera reported.
He noted that the lack of temporary shelters and fuel, combined with the sharp cold snap in the region, had turned winter into "a mortal threat for hundreds of Palestinian families". Despite all the measures taken by parents to keep their children warm, at least 15 newborns and infants have died in the enclave from hypothermia.
According to the channel, there is a widespread and urgent need for basic necessities, blankets and heating supplies in Gaza, while humanitarian aid and fuel supplies to the region are still restricted by the Israeli authorities.
Earlier, information was received about the deaths of six young Palestinians in hospitals in the cities of Gaza and Khan Yunis. As doctors from the “Friends of the Patient” (PFBS) hospital note, thousands of refugees in the enclave have no way to heat their shelters, which is causing numerous cases of hypothermia, mainly among children.