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Fifth group of Palestinians released from Israeli prisons arrives in Ramallah — TV

The fifth group of released Palestinians comprises 30 persons - 15 women and 15 teenagers

CAIRO, November 28. /TASS/. The fifth group of Palestinians, released from Israeli prisons under the prisoner exchange agreement arrived in the West Bank’s administrative center of Ramallah, the Al Hadath television said on Tuesday.

According to the report, "a convoy of vehicles taking Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank has arrived in Ramallah."

The fifth group of released Palestinians comprises 30 persons - 15 women and 15 teenagers.

Shortly before that, radical groups operating in the Gaza Strip, released 12 people taken hostage when the current round of Israeli-Palestinian tensions broke out in early October. The four previous groups were released by HAMAS, while the fifth - by Islamic Jihad.

Abu Ubayda, the spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said the movement will remain committed to ceasefire "as long as the enemy also remains committed to it." Besides, the spokesman called upon international mediators to exert pressure on Israel in order to make it comply "with all provisions of the ceasefire agreement, including in the air and on the ground."

The spokesman for Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, Taher al-Nunu, told TASS on November 27 that the radical movement had reached an agreement with Israel to extend the humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip by two days. "Each hostage is to be exchanged for three prisoners and 200 truckloads [of humanitarian aid] daily," al-Nunu said.

On November 22, Hamas reported reaching a 4-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip with Israel, brokered by Egypt and Qatar. The agreements envisaged multi-step release of 50 children, teenagers (under 19) and women held in the enclave in exchange for 150 teenagers (under 19) and women from Israeli prisons. The truce came into force on November 24 at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time (5:00 a.m. GMT).