Israel to free 183 prisoners on Feb. 1 – Palestinian NGO

A crowd welcomes Palestinians formerly jailed by Israel as they arrive in a Red Cross convoy to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on January 30, 2025. Buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners arrived to cheers in the occupied West Bank on January 30, 2025, after chaos during the release by Gaza militants of three Israeli hostages and five Thais led to a brief delay in the process. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Israel is set to release 183 prisoners on Saturday in the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange under the Gaza ceasefire deal, a Palestinian advocacy group said, more than doubling the previous reported figure.

“The updated number of prisoners to be released tomorrow is 183,” said Palestinian Prisoners’ Club spokeswoman Amani Sarahneh on Friday, after previously announcing that 90 prisoners would be released from Israeli jails.

The advocacy group published two separate lists of names due for release on Saturday. The first comprised 72 prisoners arrested before Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

A second list of inmates to be freed contained 111 names of Gazans detained after the attack that sparked the war in the Palestinian territory.

Since the truce took effect on January 19, Gaza militants have released 15 hostages after holding them in captivity for over 15 months.

The three hostages to be freed Saturday are Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, who also holds US citizenship, and Ofer Kalderon, who also has French nationality, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.

Since the ceasefire began, Israel has freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and minors.