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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
⭕️ Engineer Dirar Abu Seesi, known as the 'Father of Deadly Rockets' by Israeli security services, will be released today as part of the prisoner exchange deal after 14 years of imprisonment. The former deputy engineer of Gaza's sole electrical plant was abducted by the Mossad and Shin Bet from Ukraine in 2011 and later sentenced to 21 years.
Israeli authorities accused him of being a key figure in Hamas' military development—the central developer of the Qassam rocket and other weapons while also overseeing upgrades to older rockets.
Contrary to expectations, Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Dr. Hussam Abu Safia is not listed among the 602 Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli prisons today, 445 of them from Gaza.
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❗️The Red Cross receives 3 Israeli soldier captives from the Palestinian resistance in Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza.
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The Palestinian resistance opens the captive handover ceremony in central Gaza's Nuseirat with the Palestinian national anthem.
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❗️Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem:
"Today, our Palestinian people mark a major achievement in the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, thanks to their resilience, sacrifices, and the bravery of the resistance, through the execution of a large prisoner exchange operation.
The Qassam Brigades and the resistance have forced the Zionist occupation to cross the red lines it set for itself regarding the release of prisoners, breaking the chains of several key figures in the prisoners' movement.
Hamas reaffirms its full commitment to completing all phases of the prisoner exchange process and is ready to carry out a mass exchange in the second phase—on the condition that the occupation commits to a lasting ceasefire, withdraws from Gaza, and releases our prisoners from its jails."
❗️Qassam Brigades sources to Al Jazeera about HIsham al-Sayed, the Palestinian captive with Israeli citizenship:
○ The Qassam Brigades have decided to hand over Hisham al-Sayed without ceremony out of respect for the Palestinians inside [the territories occupied in 1948]."
○ "The abnormal cases of recruitment of Palestinian citizens of Israel into the ranks of the occupation are rejected by all Palestinians."
○ "The occupation abandoned prisoner Hisham Al-Sayed for 10 years because he is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, despite having served in its ranks."
❗️Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office:
"The lists circulating on social media about the Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released today are inaccurate, and the official lists will be published on the office's platforms."
❗️Banner of the late Qassam Brigades Chief of Staff Mohammad Deif that reads, "We can change the course of history."
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"The land distinguishes its own people ... from the foreigners with dual nationality."
A banner raised by the Palestinian resistance in Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, where four more Israeli captives are expected to be released.
❗️Israel summons the families of five Palestinian prisoners from Jerusalem to Al-Maskoubiya (Moscovia Prison) to inform them of the procedures for release and to warn them against any celebrations.
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WATCH | Scenes from the handover of Israeli soldier captives Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham to the Red Cross by the Palestinian resistance in Rafah, as part of the seventh batch of the exchange deal with Israel. They have since been received by the Israeli army.
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❗️Israeli occupation forces storm Birzeit, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and raid the homes of a number of Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released tomorrow as part of the exchange deal between the Palestinian resistance and Israel.
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❗️Statement issued by Hamas:
"The claims made by the spokesperson of the Zionist occupation army, accusing the resistance of killing the Bibas family, are nothing but outright lies—part of a long series of fabrications spread over the past fifteen months amid the ongoing genocide against our Palestinian people. This is a desperate attempt to evade responsibility for the murder of the family, which was caused by the scale of the occupation’s mass extermination, brutal bombardment, and widespread destruction of buildings and neighborhoods. Furthermore, Netanyahu’s obstruction of a ceasefire agreement contributed to their deaths, alongside other crimes committed against [Israeli] captives in Gaza.
The occupation army, its media spokespersons, and its extremist fascist government have engaged in the most deceitful propaganda, repeatedly attempting to divert global public opinion away from their horrific crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and massacres against defenseless civilians and all aspects of life in Gaza. However, the world continues to uncover the falsity of their narratives and the extent of their crimes against humanity."
Western-backed Syrian govt imposes strict fasting rules on non-Muslims for Ramadan
Syria's new government has publicly claimed it will respect minorties, despite pushing for fundamentalist rule over non-Muslims and carrying out sectarian killings against Alawites
Lebanese PM tells US delegation ‘no justification’ for Israeli occupation
The US delegation stressed support for the Lebanese army, which was recently attacked by Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon
The moment an Israeli prisoner kissed Qassam fighters on the forehead during the handover to the Red Cross in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
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❗️The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office, the Prisoners’ and Freed Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, and the Prisoners’ Club release the seventh list of names of the prisoners to be freed in the first phase of the exchange process for Saturday, 22 February, 2025.
The list includes: 50 prisoners serving life sentences, 60 prisoners serving long sentences, 41 prisoners released in the 2011 exchange deal who were re-arrested, and 445 prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were detained by Israel after 7 October.
Israeli soldier captive kisses the head of a Qassam Brigades member on the handover platform in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.
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❗️The handover ceremony of 3 Israeli captives held by the Palestinian resistance to the Red Cross begins in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip.
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❗️Hezbollah's Deputy Executive Council Chief, Sheikh Ali Damoush:
"Lebanon, on whose soil we have sacrificed our most esteemed leaders as martyrs, will never be Israeli, will never be a foothold for the Zionists, and will never be divided."
❗️Ceremony begins for handing over Israeli captives held by the Palestinian resistance to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, Israeli Army Radio reports that the military is preparing to receive the Israeli captive Hisham al-Sayed from a third point in Gaza City.
❗️Red Cross vehicles arrive at the site of the next handover in Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, where four more captives will be released.
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Hamas:
"It has become clear to the Zionist public that they have two options:
Either they receive their captives in coffins, as happened on Thursday due to Netanyahu’s arrogance, or they embrace their captives alive by adhering to the resistance’s conditions."
More weapons seized by Israeli soldiers on 7 October, 2023 and throughout Israel's genocidal war on Gaza were on display during the seventh batch of the captive handover.
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❗️Four more Israeli captives will be released later, and over 600 Palestinians are expected to be released on Saturday as part of the latest exchange.
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❗️Israeli Army Radio reports that the Red Cross confirmed it delivered a body to Israel but cannot identify it.
It is expected to be body of Sheri Bibas.
The longest held Palestinian prisoner, Nael Barghouthi, from the village of Kobar, near Ramallah, is set to be released and deported to Egypt tomorrow as part of the resistance's victorious prisoner exchange.
Nael was born in 1957 and is known among prisoners as “Abu Al-Noor.”
He was first arrested in 1977 and then rearrested in 1978 along with his brother Omar and their cousin Fakhri Barghouthi, accused of killing an “israeli” officer north of Ramallah, burning an oil factory, and bombing a café in Al-Quds. They were all sentenced to life imprisonment plus 18 years.
He is considered the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner and the world’s longest-held prisoner according to the Guinness World Records in 2009. As of November 2024, he entered his 45th year in “israeli” prisons, 34 of which were served consecutively, marking the longest period of imprisonment in the history of the Palestinian national prisoner movement.
Fellow prisoners recognize him for his vast knowledge, love of reading, and passion for history, making him a reference in Palestinian resistance history. While in prison, he learned Hebrew and English. After his release on October 18, 2011, as part of the “Wafa Al-Ahrar” prisoner exchange deal, he began studying history at Al-Quds Open University. However, the occupation rearrested him in 2014, sentencing him to 30 months in prison. After completing his sentence, the occupation refused to release him and reinstated his previous sentence—life imprisonment plus 18 years—on the pretext of a “secret file.”
During his years of imprisonment, he said: “I have seen the prison gate replaced twice during my captivity. The reason was that the iron had worn out, but our spirits never did.”
A mini Arab summit was held in Riyadh today to discuss the future of Gaza, attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Jordanian King Abdullah, Egyptian President Sisi, UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed, and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad.
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Covert Crusade: Washington's $600m digital war on Iran
For over a decade, the US State Department’s NERD fund has covertly funneled hundreds of millions into regime-change efforts in Iran, disguising digital warfare and opposition funding as ‘democracy promotion’ – but a sudden funding freeze has thrown these operations into chaos.
By Kit Klarenberg
❗️US President Donald Trump:
○ "We pay Jordan and Egypt billions of dollars a year. And I was a little surprised they did not accept my plan."
○ "Gaza plan really works, but I'm not forcing it. I'm just going to sit back and recommend it, and then the US would own the site."
○ "No Hamas, and it'd be developed, and then you start all over again with a clean place."
○ "If you gave the people of Gaza a choice between that and living in a nice community, I think I know where they'd go."