Houthis, Hamas merge diplomacy around prisoner releases

Hamas welcomes a Houthi initiative to release two Saudi airmen the Houthis captured in Yemen in exchange for Saudi Arabia freeing 60 Palestinian prisoners, including a Hamas leader and his son.
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A Tornado warplane flies over the Saudi capital, Riyadh, during a graduation ceremony at King Faisal Air Force University in Riyadh, Jan. 20, 2008. Two Saudi airmen whose Tornado was shot down last year in Yemen are the subject of a prisoner exchange offer made by the Houthis involving Palestinian prisoners in Saudi Arabia. - HASSAN AMMAR/AFP via Getty Images
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Ahmad Abu Amer
@ahmedmajd1

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Yemen’s Houthi group has suggested that two Saudi airmen captured in February 2020 be released in exchange for the freeing of 60 Palestinians detained in Saudi Arabia, including Hamas members. The proposal follows a similar initiative the Houthis made in the spring.

The head of the Houthis' prisoner affairs committee, Abdul Qader al-Murtada, said in a televised speech Dec. 30 that his group was ready to release the airmen if Saudi Arabia frees the Palestinians. 

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