183 Palestinian security prisoners will be released on Saturday in exchange for the hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami, Army Radio reported Friday.
The Palestinian security prisoners set to be released include 111 Gazans who were arrested during the war and 18 terrorists serving life sentences, according to the report.
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has received the list of prisoners and is preparing for their release, according to a statement from the institution.
Once all procedures have been conducted within the prisons, troops from the Nachshon Unit, the IPS’s main prisoner transport division, will transfer the terrorists to Ofer Prison and Ketziot Prison, the IPS said.
The prisoners will then be identified by International Red Cross representatives and will remain there until the Israeli hostages arrive in Israel.
Release to West Bank
Once political approval is granted, the terrorists will be transported from Ofer Prison by the Red Cross to release points in the West Bank, while troops from IPS units, Nachshon and Masada, will transfer them to the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously stated that the released prisoners would be released to Gaza or abroad and not to the West Bank.
The IPS has been preparing to release Palestinian security prisoners weekly since the hostage and ceasefire deal took effect on January 19. In the first wave of releasing prisoners, the IPS mobilized 1,500 officers from the Nachshon and Masada units for an operation to oversee the release of 90 prisoners in exchange for the release of hostages Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari.
Most of the prisoners on the list for the first wave of the prisoner releases were women, and only one prisoner on the list under the age of 18 at the time of their arrest was convicted of murder, according to Ynet.
Joanie Margulies contributed to this report.
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