Jerusalem: Israeli fighter jets on Saturday conducted an intelligence-based strike on a Hamas weapons storage facility in the southern Syrian town of Deir Ali, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
It added that the weapons stored at the facility were intended for use in attacks on IDF troops.
The IDF noted that it would continue to dismantle Hamas’ capabilities on all fronts and “will operate against all attempts by terrorist organizations to entrench themselves and build up their forces.”
Earlier in the day, Israel and Hamas completed the fifth prisoner-for-hostage swap under the first phase of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Three Israeli hostages previously held by Hamas were transferred on Saturday from central Gaza to the IDF and the Israel Security Agency and crossed the border into Israel, the IDF said in a statement.
The three Israeli hostages, kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, are Ohad Ben Ami, 56, a dual Israeli-German citizen; Eli Sharabi, 52; and Or Levy, 34.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “in collaboration with security bodies, the government will support the released hostages and their families”.
As part of the swap, Israel also freed 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails on Saturday, as agreed, Xinhua news agency reported.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, said the released prisoners, transported by buses of the International Red Cross, have arrived in Ramallah.
Of the freed prisoners, 42 were from the West Bank, three from Jerusalem, and 27 from the Gaza Strip, all serving life sentences or lengthy terms. Additionally, 111 prisoners were arrested in the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ 2023 surprise attack, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a press statement.
Seven of the freed prisoners will be deported outside the Palestinian territories, according to the statement.
Effective on January 19, the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Egypt and Qatar with support from the United States, stipulates that Hamas release 33 hostages, while Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
In the previous four prisoner-for-hostage swaps, 18 hostages have been released from Gaza and around 600 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
(IANS)
