UPDATED following clarification/update from the Prisoners’ Media Office.
The Prisoners’ Media office published the following important update in preparation for the next phase of the first stage of the Flood of the Free/Toufan al-Ahrar exchange, which will take place this coming Saturday, 25 January 2025.
Nahed Al-Fakhouri, the media official in the Office of Martyrs, Wounded and Prisoners in Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, said that the second part of the first phase of the Flood of the Free exchange, according to the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist occupation, will begin implementation next Saturday, 25 January 2025.
Al-Fakhouri confirmed that the resistance will present next Saturday the names of the occupation prisoners held by the resistance who will be released, and in return the occupation will present a list of the names of the Palestinian prisoners who will be released, followed by the actual exchange.
The agreement stipulates that every female soldier of the occupation soldiers will be exchanged for 30 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and 20 prisoners with long sentences, noting that if the resistance hands over four female soldiers, the total number of prisoners released will be 120 prisoners with life sentences and 80 prisoners with long sentences for a total of 200, according to the list whose names were agreed upon in advance.
Al-Fakhouri clarified out that if the number of female soldiers to be exchanged by the resistance decreases, the number of Palestinian prisoners who will be released will decrease as well. Some of the prisoners with life sentences will be deported outside Palestine; al-Fakhouri stated that the Arab Republic of Egypt will be one of the destinations for the immediate step of the prisoners’ liberation.
UPDATE, 21 January: “Notice issued by the Prisoners’ Media Office regarding the date of the second phase of the first stage of the prisoner exchange
We would like to confirm that the date for implementing the second batch of prisoner exchanges is Saturday, January 25. According to the text of the agreement: ‘On the seventh day of the release of the first batch, the second batch will be released.’
The interpretation differed, as it was considered that the counting of days begins from the day immediately following the launch of the first batch, which makes the seventh day coincide with Sunday.
In contrast, the first day was counted from the date the first batch was released, making Saturday the seventh day.”
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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes all of the liberated prisoners and the Resistance whose achievements have made their liberation possible. We urge everyone, around the world, to join with the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere, to celebrate the achievements of the Resistance and the humiliation of the occupier, and to celebrate and welcome each liberated prisoner as the heroes of our global movement that they are, in public events, with posters and public education, with actions and events exposing Zionism and imperialism everywhere.
The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners is continuing amid the Flood of the Free — this is an excellent opportunity to highlight the prisoners with lengthy sentences and support the resistance’s demand for their liberation, while celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of the Flood of the Free on a daily basis.
We urge all supporters of Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to receive and honour the prisoners virtually and symbolically — and pledge to continue the movement until all of them are free, and all of Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.
