The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Saturday that it had transferred 128 Palestinian detainees to Gaza and the West Bank while local authorities handled the release and transfer of the remainder, completing the second exchange under the deal that took effect last Sunday.

Before the release in Gaza City’s Palestine Square, dozens of masked Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters gathered at the scene where a large crowd of Palestinians also congregated.

The four women – Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were marched onto a podium where they waved and smiled – likely under duress. They were then led into ICRC vehicles, which transported them to Israeli forces.

Representatives of the ICRC and a Hamas fighter were seen signing documents before the release.

Later on Saturday, buses carrying released Palestinian prisoners were seen departing from the Israeli Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank, soon after the Israeli captives were freed. Israel’s Prison Service said all 200 prisoners were released in line with the list published by Hamas.

The releases on either side were welcomed by cheering crowds of Palestinians in the city of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and by Israelis in Tel Aviv.

Unreleased captive

Israel said a female civilian captive, 29-year-old Arbel Yehud, who had been expected to be freed on Saturday, was not.

She was abducted with her boyfriend from their home in the Nir Oz settlement in Israel during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

An Israeli military spokesman said it was a breach of the truce. A Hamas official told Al Jazeera that Yehuda is alive and will be released next Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians in Gaza will not be allowed to cross back to the northern part of the territory until the issue is resolved.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from northern Gaza during the war and many are expecting to return from Sunday.

Israel is also expected to open the Rafah border crossing in the south for more humanitarian aid and other commercial supplies to enter.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, said many Palestinians consider Saturday’s exchange of captives and prisoners as very important as it will pave the way for their return to northern Gaza.

Khoudary quoted sources as saying that many displaced Palestinians were already massing near the Wadi Gaza area, hoping to be able to cross to the north from Sunday.

Saturday’s exchange was the second since a ceasefire began on January 19, when Hamas handed over three Israeli female civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinians held in Israeli jails

Among the 200 Palestinians released from Israeli jails on Saturday, 121 were serving life sentences, while 79 were serving long sentences.

The oldest prisoner is 69 years old while the youngest is 15. Seventy Palestinians are due to be deported, with Egypt expected to host them for 48 hours.

They will consequently be sent to Tunisia, Algeria and Turkiye, which all agreed to receive them.

Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the release of Palestinian prisoners is a “huge relief” for families, although it is happening under the “horrible realities of [the Israeli] occupation”.

“These prisoners should have been released through a bigger deal that ends the conflict, that brings peace through negotiations, through ending occupation, but the harsh reality in Palestine is that as we talk, occupation continues,” Qarmout told Al Jazeera.

“Israel is just intensifying its attacks on the West Bank, confiscating more land, surrounding villages and towns,” he added.

Still, Hamas’s interest is to ensure the ceasefire holds and people are able to return to their homes, or to what’s left of them, Qarmout said.

The post Four Israeli soldiers, 200 Palestinians released in Gaza ceasefire deal first appeared on Tech B World.

Key Facts

• In a statement, Baraka said ICE agents raided a “local establishment” in Newark without a warrant and detained “undocumented residents as well as citizens.”
• The mayor said one of the detainees was a U.S. military veteran, “who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned.”
• ICE confirmed it had carried out a “targeted enforcement operation at a worksite…in Newark” in a statement to several news outlets.
• The agency’s statement added that it may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting its operations and “may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case…in Newark.”
• In an update on X, the agency said it had made 538 arrests and lodged 373 detainees on Thursday, but did not specify how many of them were from the Newark raid.
• CBS News reported that “Ocean Seafood Depot” was the business targeted in the raid and its owner said three people were taken into custody.

What Have Democratic Lawmakers Said About The Raid?

The two Democratic U.S. Senators from New Jersey, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, issued a joint statement on the raid, saying they were “deeply concerned” and their offices have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to “demand answers.” The statement added: “Actions like this one sow fear in all of our communities and our broken immigration system requires solutions, not fear tactics.” Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., whose Congressional district includes Newark, also condemned the raid, saying: “Already, Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities are hitting home and we will not back down…We will always fight for the dignity and rights of everyone in our district and across the country.”

What Do We Know About Sanctuary Cities?

Newark is one of several Sanctuary cities in the U.S. where local officials have passed laws to limit their cooperation with the federal government on matters of immigration enforcement. During President Donald Trump’s first term, Baraka signed an executive order to make Newark a sanctuary city. Earlier this week, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan criticized sanctuary cities in a CNN interview and said: “There’s going to be more collateral arrests in sanctuary cities because they forced us to go into the community and find the guy we’re looking for.” He added that ICE will go into neighborhoods to find undocumented migrants convicted of crimes and warned that others who are with him, “that don’t have a criminal conviction and are in the country illegally. They will be arrested too.”

The post Newark Mayor Says ICE Detained U.S. Citizens During Workplace Raid—Democratic Lawmakers Criticize Agency’s ‘Fear Tactics first appeared on Tech B World.

Key Facts

• Trump has directed “heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of the government” to take necessary steps to terminate remote work accommodations.
• Federal employees will be required to return to work in-person on a full-time basis.
• The executive order requires these department heads to make this transition “as soon as practicable.”
• The presidential action allows executive branch leaders the discretion to make necessary exemptions.

Critical Quote

“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk and former co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in a November op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal

Key Background

According to the Office of Management and Budget, about 1.1 million federal civilian employees, which is 46% of the civilian workforce, were eligible for some form of telework. Of these, roughly 228,000 workers, or 10% of the total workforce, had fully remote positions with no obligation to come into an office.

Tangent

Officials confirmed Monday that Ramaswamy has stepped down from DOGE, as he prepares to launch his campaign for Ohio governor in 2026, leaving Musk as the sole leader of the advisory group, AP reported.

What To Watch For

The Trump administration is anticipated to implement various measures to shrink the federal workforce, with DOGE aiming to reduce regulations, cut government positions and reorganize federal agencies. These efforts may involve significant transfers of senior officials and the relocation of entire agency offices. Trump has committed to moving up to 100,000 government jobs away from Washington, D.C., a strategy he previously employed during his first term when he moved the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters to Colorado, leading to the departure of 287 employees. In the final days of his first presidential term, Trump issued an executive order creating Schedule F, a new classification for certain federal employees. According to CNN, this category was intended to reclassify an unspecified number of career civil servants, removing their job protections and making it easier to terminate and replace them with individuals loyal to Trump.

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