Hamas Giving $2000 to Prisoners Freed in Gaza
Gaza's ruling Hamas movement announced on Wednesday it would give $2,000 to each prisoner released by Israel to the coastal territory under a landmark prisoner exchange deal.
"It has been decided that to honor the freed prisoners each of them will be given 2,000 U.S. dollars," said a statement from the office of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas government in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israel freed 477 prisoners in the first stage of a deal to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who spent more than five years as a captive in the Gaza Strip.
Under the deal, a total of 1,027 prisoners will be released -- some to their homes in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and others exiled to either the Gaza Strip or overseas to Syria, Qatar and Turkey.
Shalit returned home to his family on Tuesday afternoon, and Israel is set to release a second group of 550 Palestinian prisoners within two months.
Source: Agence France Presse
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