Members of the Qassam Brigades during the handover of the second batch of Israeli detainees (Al Jazeera)

The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said it handed over on Sunday evening to the Red Cross 13 Israeli detainees and 3 Thai and Russian detainees as part of the third phase of the prisoner exchange as part of the humanitarian calm.

According to Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari, 39 Palestinian civilians are scheduled to be released today in exchange for 13 Israeli detainees leaving Gaza as part of the Hamas-Israel swap deal, in addition to a detainee with Russian citizenship and 3 Thais outside the framework of the agreement.

Israel's Channel 12 reported that the Red Cross handed over the released detainees to the Israeli army on their way to a crossing near Kibbutz Be'eri.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said 14 Israelis and 3 foreigners detained in Gaza had been transferred to the Red Cross.

Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the third batch of detainees was received for the first time in the northern Gaza Strip.

TASS news agency quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying that Hamas had released a detainee holding a Russian passport after direct agreements with it.

Place of delivery

For his part, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tel Aviv, Elias Karam, said that the Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the handover of Israeli detainees to the Red Cross took place in the northern Gaza Strip, not in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip.

Perhaps this explains the fact that this group is from the town of Kfar Azza, opposite northern Gaza, meaning that Israeli detainees are located in different places inside the Gaza Strip.

According to Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, Hisham Zaqout, the handover of Israeli detainees in Gaza City has taken place.

"The ground operation and the Israeli aerial bombardment are largely focused on Gaza City, yet the Qassam has succeeded in keeping the prisoners," Zaqout said.

In Washington, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC News that he believed one of the three Americans held by Hamas would be released Sunday in the third batch of prisoner exchanges between the group and Israel.

Palestinian Prisoners

Regarding Palestinian prisoners, the Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs (governmental) and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club (non-governmental) announced the names of the third batch of Palestinian prisoners to be released, on Sunday evening.

According to a joint statement, all the names on the list are 39 child prisoners, 21 of whom are from Jerusalem, one from the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, and the rest are distributed among the governorates of the West Bank.

Israel's Channel 13 reported that the Israel Prison Service has received a list of the names of the 39 prisoners who will be released today, in preparation for the start of handover procedures to the Red Cross.

Qatari mediation efforts - in cooperation with Egypt and the United States - succeeded in reaching a humanitarian truce agreement in Gaza that lasts for 4 days, which can be extended, which began on Friday.

In the first batch, Hamas released 13 Israeli women and children in its custody, while 39 captured women and children left Israeli prisons.

In the second batch, Hamas released 13 Israeli women and children, as well as 4 Thais, who were outside the agreement, while the occupation authorities released 6 of its oldest prisoners and 33 children.

The agreement includes the exchange of 50 Israeli civilian women and children detained in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons, and the truce will allow the entry of a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid, including fuel for humanitarian needs.

Source : Al Jazeera + Agencies