A senior source in the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" told "Arabi 21" that the movement is prepared to exchange all Israeli prisoners for all Palestinian prisoners when the war stops completely.

The source added that this position is not new, “Hamas has demanded this all the time, but it was the Israeli side that was insisting on short-term truces (for one day), while the movement wants a final cessation of the war.

The source indicated that Hamas informed the mediators, Qatari and Egyptian, of the details of this, and what is related to “relief, shelter and reconstruction for our people in Gaza.”

He added, "If the Israeli government is truly interested in resolving the prisoners' issue, it must communicate with the mediators and express this frankly and not in a manipulative manner."

Last week, the Palestinian factions confirmed their position of refusing to conclude any agreement or prisoner exchange deal with Israel “except by a comprehensive cessation of the aggression against the Gaza Strip.”

This came in a statement by the factions following a meeting they held to discuss developments in light of the aggression against Gaza, and the Hamas movement published it on the Telegram platform.

The factions said in the statement: “We affirm our unified national position that there is no agreement or exchange deals without a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our Palestinian people.”

Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, are sponsoring efforts to reach a second temporary truce in Gaza, as the first truce was reached last November and resulted in the release of 105 prisoners held by Hamas, including 81 Israelis, 23 Thais, and one Filipino, compared to 240 Palestinian prisoners. Of women and children in occupation prisons.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on military points and settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed, about 5,431 were wounded, and the movement captured at least 239. It exchanged dozens of them with Israel during a temporary humanitarian truce that lasted 7 days and ended early last December.

Since that day, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that, as of Wednesday, left “24,448 dead and 61,504 injured,” and caused the displacement of more than 85 percent (about 1.9 million people) of the Strip’s population, according to the Palestinian authorities and the United Nations.