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NOVANEWS
The Hurriyet Daily News in Turkey reported that Ankara will be hosting 40 Palestinians detainees who will be freed under the prisoner-swap deal between Israel and Hamas. Israel rejected to have them exiled to Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.
Israel wanted a larger number of detainees to be forced into exile, but the number was toned down eventually to 40. 163 West Bank detainees will be sent to the Gaza Strip.
Member of the Hamas Political Bureau, Izzat Al Rishiq, stated that the second phase of the swap deal will be implemented two months after the first phase is concluded.
Al Rishiq wrote on his Facebook page that the deal also states that all freed detainees must be political prisoners, and not prisoners held on criminal charges.
The other criteria of the deal states that the released detainees should not be detainees who are about to end their terms, as it conditions the release detainees who still have several years of imprisonment, including detainees who still have 10 or 12 years remaining of their sentence.
Al Rishiq said that all detainees released on the second stage of the deal will be allowed back to their towns and homes. Yet, Israel will be the sole party who will choose the names.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) stated that there are still more than 5000 Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails, including some 400 prisoners from the Gaza Strip.
The PCHR added that it is concerned over the forced exile of the 203 (163 of them to Gaza), as the act the violates International Law.
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