On the 40th day of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, attention is turning to the start of negotiations for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, after the completion of the first phase of the prisoner exchange deal.

On Thursday morning, Israel released 642 Palestinian prisoners as part of the seventh batch of the exchange deal, distributed between the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, while the International Committee of the Red Cross received the bodies of four kidnapped Israelis from Hamas, as part of the conclusion of the first phase of the Gaza agreement.

1,700 Palestinian prisoners were released, including 700 prisoners with life sentences and long sentences, and 1,000 prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were released as part of the first phase of the exchange deal, while 33 Israeli hostages were released, including 8 bodies and 5 Thais, leaving 59 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

The exchange process, which was supposed to take place last Saturday, witnessed Israeli procrastination, due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Hamas had conducted “provocative ceremonies” during the previous detainee handover process, while Netanyahu continues to evade in order to extend the first phase and not move directly to the second phase, which means ending the war on Gaza.

In addition, Hamas renewed its full commitment to the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip with all its details and provisions, stressing its readiness to enter into negotiations related to the second phase of the agreement.

The movement called on the mediators to continue to pressure the occupation to abide by what was agreed upon, sending a message to unnamed countries that they must "stop the double standards in the discourse related to the Zionist prisoners without mentioning our prisoners and the abuse they are subjected to."

This comes as an Israeli delegation heads to Doha or Cairo to begin negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on extending the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, after completing the first phase of the agreement, according to what the Axios website reported from an Israeli official.

In this context, the Axios website quoted US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as saying that an Israeli delegation will travel to Doha or Cairo in the coming days to negotiate a deal to exchange Israeli and Palestinian prisoners and a ceasefire in Gaza. Witkoff added: "If all goes well, I may travel to the Middle East region on Sunday" next.