As Israel persisted in its attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, Hamas and Israel reached an agreement on the exchange of prisoners, Al-Arabiya reported on Friday.
Hamas and Israel agree prisoner exchange: It further stated that the sources verified the two parties’ agreement to exchange 100 inmates held by Hamas for the release of Palestinian women and children detained by Israel.
Palestinian officials have reported a death toll of over 10,000 people, while pleas for Israel to refrain from its month-long battle against Hamas, which left all Israelis fearing for their lives after the October 7 onslaught, have grown louder.
The article claims that Qatar had a significant mediating role that lasted for weeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had earlier said that a ceasefire would not hold unless hostages held by Hamas were freed.
“I wish to categorically state that there will be no ceasefire until our prisoners are released, and I want to refute any rumours that we hear from whatever source. All other things are pointless, he declared.
The director of Al-Shifa hospital, where the victims were transfer, reported that attacks targeting a school in Gaza City on Friday resulted in the deaths of almost fifty individuals.
“After missile and artillery strikes that targeted the school this morning, we recovered about 50 martyrs from inside Al-Buraq school in the Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza,” stated hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
The stated death toll was not immediately verified by AFP.
Ahead of meetings this weekend that will centre on the bloodshed that is now taking place in the Palestinian territory, the de facto monarch of Saudi Arabia criticised the actions of Israeli forces combating Hamas in Gaza on Friday.
In his first public remarks on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, “We condemn the military aggression witnessed in the Gaza Strip, the targeting of civilians, and the ongoing violations of international humanitarian law by the Israeli occupation forces.”
“We emphasise how important it is to put an end to this war and the forced relocation of people, as well as to create the conditions necessary to bring stability and peace back.”
According to Israeli officials, on October 7, Hamas terrorists broke through the tightly guarded border from the Gaza Strip and massacred over 1,400 people in southern Israel while capturing about 240 captives.
Israel replied against Hamas, vowing to destroy it through aerial bombing and a ground invasion. According to the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, the response has resulted in the deaths of over 11,000 people, with over half of them being children.
The war has interrupted a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, an agreement that Prince Mohammed stated in September was getting “closer” every day.
