JERUSALEM 

Israel’s Prison Service began Sunday to transfer 90 Palestinian detainees to Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to be released under a Gaza ceasefire deal, local media said.

Israeli Channel 12 said the 78 prisoners would be released to the West Bank while the other 12 to East Jerusalem.

“They will only be freed after the arrival of the Israeli captives to Israel,” it added.

The list of prisoners to be released includes Khalida Jarrar, a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and journalist Bushra al-Tawil, the daughter of Hamas leader Jamal al-Tawil, according to a joint statement by the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, and the Prisoners' Media Office.

The list includes 69 female detainees, 20 children, and one young, the statement said, adding that the set-to-be freed prisoners do not include any detainees from Gaza.

The Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect at 11.15 a.m. local time (0915GMT) on Sunday after a few hours’ delay due to Israeli accusations for Hamas of delaying the release of a list of captives set to be released. It was originally scheduled to start on 8.30 a.m. local time.

Nearly 47,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 110,700 others injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli war has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi and Rania Abu Shamala