From the rubble of Jabalia... "Al-Qassam" hands over an Israeli prisoner to the Red Cross

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, handed over Israeli soldier Agam Berger to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday after she was taken out of a building destroyed by Israeli shelling in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

The prisoner Berger was handed over amidst a large crowd and a heavy deployment of Qassam Brigades members in Al-Razan Square in the middle of Jabalia camp.

Before the soldier was handed over, Red Cross vehicles arrived, and after that, one of the Qassam members sat with the Red Cross delegate at a table in front of which was a map of Palestine and slogans written in Hebrew, and the receipt and handover documents were signed.

During the handover process, Al-Qassam displayed a weapon it had captured during the Israeli genocide on the Gaza Strip, on the platform where the female soldier was handed over.

In May 2024, the Qassam Brigades displayed weapons in a video clip, saying that they were spoils of war from its fighters who captured Israeli soldiers in an operation in the Gaza Strip, specifically in the Jabalia camp, according to what its spokesman, Abu Obeida, announced at the time.

Abu Obeida's speech at the time included video footage showing the body of an Israeli soldier who was killed and held captive during the operation being dragged into a tunnel, in addition to two helmets, military clothing and weapons.

The Al-Qassam Brigades announced on Wednesday evening that they would release today the soldier Berger, Arbel Yehud and Musa Moses, who will be released in Khan Yunis today, in the southern Gaza Strip, in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners.

This came as part of the third batch of prisoners to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

On January 19, the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Israel came into effect, with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

The agreement consists of 3 stages, each lasting 42 days, during which negotiations will take place to start a second and third stage, leading to the end of the war of extermination.

With American support, between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, Israel committed genocide in Gaza, leaving about 159,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing.

Anatolia