DOHA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Head of the Hamas Movement in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, affirmed his Movement’s “readiness for immediate engagement in negotiations to implement the terms of the second phase.”
The Hamas leader detailed the terms of the second phase as follows: complete ceasefire and achieving a sustained calm, the full withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, and finalizing the prisoner exchange deal.
“Hamas has proven, along with the resistance, its seriousness in implementing the agreement with full responsibility,” he said in a televised speech.
“We stress the need to oblige the occupation to implement all provisions of the agreement without procrastination.”
“The enemy is still procrastinating and evading engagement in the second phase negotiations,” al-Hayya added.
“We also emphasize the need to secure all of this with binding international guarantees, as stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 2735,” he clarified.
“We continue to work tirelessly, day and night, across all fronts, especially with the mediators—Qatar and Egypt—to compel the Israeli occupation to uphold the terms agreed upon in the first phase.”
Al-Hayya pointed out that the resistance will hand over four bodies of Israeli captives on Thursday, February 20, including the bodies of the “Bibas” family in exchange for the release of a corresponding number of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, February 22, by the Israeli occupation as per the agreement. The remaining agreed-upon bodies will be handed over in the first phase during the sixth week.
The Palestinian resistance will also release the remaining six living Israeli captives, agreed upon in the first phase, on Saturday, February 22. Among them are the captives Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu. In return, the Israeli occupation is to release an equivalent number of Palestinian prisoners as per the agreement.
