Fifteen Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel under the 19 January ceasefire agreement with Hamas arrived in Turkiye on Tuesday after being deported first to Egypt, the Turkish Foreign Minister and the Hamas Prisoners’ media office said.
Among dozens of such former prisoners, they are the first to be taken in by a third country other than Egypt under the terms of the ceasefire, which bar prisoners convicted by Israel of violent attacks from returning to the Palestinian Territories, Reuters reports.
Palestinians view those jailed for fighting Israel as Resistance heroes.
Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, said the 15 former prisoners had arrived via Egypt, after Ankara responded positively to a request under the ceasefire deal provisions.
“We think it would be beneficial for some regional countries to take a role in this matter… Egypt and Qatar would play a role in that respect,” Fidan said at a joint press conference in Ankara with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.
The first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza has led to Hamas’ release of 18 hostages and Israel’s release of 583 jailed Palestinians, of whom at least 79 were sent to Egypt.
As well as Turkiye, some may be sent on to Algeria or Qatar, Hamas sources say.
Fidan rejected criticism by what he called “Zionist circles” of Turkiye’s decision to take in the former Palestinian prisoners, saying Ankara was acting to help end “the humanitarian drama in Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to discuss the situation in Gaza and other regional issues with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
The Gaza war started with a Hamas-led attack on 7 October, 2023, on Israel that killed 1,200 people, and saw more than 250 taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
The Israeli military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins, Gaza authorities say.
READ: Turkiye concerned about what Netanyahu might do after hostages released