In the seventh round of the prisoner exchange, Hamas announced on Saturday, February 22, that they have agreed to release 6 Israeli prisoners alive instead of 3. Hamas’ Political Bureau Member Halil al-Hayya also stated that on February 20, the bodies of 4 Israeli prisoners will be handed over to the Red Cross. Al-Hayya further announced that contrary to the initial plan of releasing 3 Israeli prisoners in the seventh round of the prisoner exchange on Saturday, 6 Israeli prisoners are set to be released alive. Al-Hayya emphasized that Hamas is ready to implement the second phase of the ceasefire but noted that Israel has been reluctant to engage in negotiations to transition to the second phase. A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that an agreement has been reached in the talks in Cairo for Hamas to release 6 Israeli prisoners alive on February 22, along with delivering the bodies of 4 prisoners on February 20 and 4 more the following week. Reports in the local media indicated that the Israeli government demanded the release of 6 Israeli prisoners on February 22 instead of 3 to allow the entry of container houses and construction vehicles into Gaza. It was reported that Israel had not yet decided whether to change its decision regarding the entry of these assets, which had been denied due to Hamas violating the ceasefire terms. As the 6 Israeli prisoners are released alive and 8 bodies are delivered, the prisoner exchange process in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement will come to an end. So far, Hamas has released 19 Israeli prisoners alive. Qatar had announced on January 15 that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Hamas in Gaza regarding a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, which came into effect on January 19 at 12:15 PM (local time) and consisted of three stages. During the first 42 days of the ceasefire agreement, the release of 33 Israeli prisoners and over 1900 Palestinian prisoners had been stipulated.