Most captives to be released by Hamas are non-Israelis: Official

A senior official of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says most of the 50 captives that the group plans to release under a truce agreement with the Israeli regime are citizens of other countries.

Mousa Abu Marzook, a member of Hamas politburo, said on Wednesday that Hamas and Israel will start implementing a prisoner exchange agreement that also involves a four-day ceasefire in Gaza as of 10 a.m. local time on Thursday, November 23.

Speaking to Palestine Today news channel, Abu Marzook said that Hamas had managed to impose its conditions on Israel during negotiations that led to the Gaza truce agreement.

He said Israel was against allowing humanitarian aid to reach all parts of Gaza during the ceasefire period.

“The occupying regime of Israel has no sense of humanity and we forced it (to accept that) aid reaches the entire Gaza Strip,” he said.

The official also thanked Qatar and Egypt for the role they played in mediating the ceasefire agreement.

The deal would allow the release by Hamas of 50 Israeli captives in return for the freedom of 150 Palestinian prisoners. All the captives and prisoners will be women and children under 19 years of age.

Abu Marzook gave assurances to all Palestinians being held in Israeli jails that they will also be freed as part of future prisoner exchange deals with Israel.