As part of a ceasefire deal that took effect on Sunday, Israel’s prison service said “measures were being taken” to prevent Palestinian celebrations in Israel.
Israel announced the names of the first three hostages expected to return home on Sunday in exchange for the planned release of 90 Palestinian prisoners. Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and British-Israeli Emily Damari were the released as part of the ceasefire deal.
Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) speak with fighters of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.(Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)But in Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it will work to prevent celebrations and parades over freed Palestinian prisoners, The Times of Israel reported.
Israel’s prison service previously said that “special units” from the prison service would deal with the transport of Palestinian prisoners from Shikma prison to “prevent public displays of joy in Ashkelon and other areas of Israel”.
Jenna Abuhasna, advocacy officer at Palestinian human rights group Addameer, told The i Paper forces have been visiting homes of the detainees that will be released and “making sure that their family members do not celebrate their release”.
Ms Abuhasna said many of those released in November 2023, including women and children, were detained again later. Three of the children released in that deal were “targeted” by Israeli forces and killed, she added.
There are also fears Israeli forces “will continue to violate basic human rights and continue to commit torture against the detainees up until the very last moment that the detainees are released”, she said.
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Read MoreIsraeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin said the ceasefire was fragile and could still break down.
Several people were killed as the ceasefire was delayed following a drone attack on Gaza showing how precarious the situation is.
“Hamas is notoriously late in giving the list of names of hostages and then releasing them not at the same time,” he said. “Israel will release Palestinian prisoners at a coordinated time, but in accordance with the released hostages.
He said Hamas currently does not have all the information about the Israeli hostages and is in the process of collecting it, which is why it only releases their names on the same day or the night before.
“There may be a very likely chance that there are hostages who will never be found because they’re buried underneath buildings that Israel bombed, along with thousands of missing Gazans who are designated as missing because they are underneath the rubble of buildings,” he said. “The lack of knowledge of where all the hostages are could also foil the agreement.”
The first 33 hostages include children and wounded civilians and will be released over the course of 42 days, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Who are the 33 hostages being released as part of phase one?
The list includes 12 women and children:
Romi Gonen, 23 Emily Damari, 27 Arbel Yehud, 29 Doron Steinbrecher, 31 Ariel Bibas, 5 Kfir Bibas, 2 Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33 Liri Albag, 19 Karina Ariev, 20 Agam Berger, 21 Danielle Gilboa, 20 Naama Levy, 20Ms Damari, a British-Israeli citizen who grew up in London, is among the first three hostages being released.
A video of the Bibas family – a mother and her two small children – being kidnapped went viral. Hamas has previously claimed they were dead but this has not been verified.
The list also includes 10 older men:
Ohad Ben-Ami, 58 Gadi Moshe Moses, 80 Keith Siegel, 65 Ofer Calderon, 54 Eli Sharabi, 52 Itzik Elgarat, 70 Shlomo Mansour, 86 Ohad Yahalomi, 50 Oded Lifshitz, 84 Tsahi Idan, 50Mr Liftshitz has a British-Israeli daughter named Sharone.
Another 11 men under 50 are on the list:
Hisham al-Sayed, 36 Yarden Bibas, 35 Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36 Yair Horn, 46 Omer Wenkert, 23 Sasha Trufanov, 28 Eliya Cohen, 27 Or Levy, 34 Avera Mengistu, 38 Tal Shoham, 39 Omer Shem-Tov, 22In return, Israel will release almost 2,000 Palestinians from its jails. Thirty Palestinian prisoners will be released for each female hostage.
Detailed negotiations for the second and third stages will begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire, according to current US President Joe Biden. The second stage will last another 42 days, Mr Baskin said.
Mr Baskin said this is a “very long period of time” to end a war.
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Read MoreThe Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and members of his government have insisted there is no Israeli commitment to end the war, which will “create tension” with Hamas, who will feel that Israeli is not committed to what was agreed.
“If Trump is really committed to seeing this deal done and ending the war, just saying that to Netanyahu puts the pressure on Netanyahu,” he said.
“This deal was on the table since May when Biden presented it, but there was no willingness in Israel to get it done until Donald Trump said to Netanyahu, ‘Get it done. I don’t want it on my desk when I enter the White House.’”
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