Gaza city: Palestinians at home and abroad rejoiced following the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons on Monday. This was the largest prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Palestinian resistance with the enemy, two years after the genocide committed by the Zionist enemy army in the Gaza Strip.
According to Yemen News Agency, Palestinian cities and towns did not witness public celebrations for the release of Palestinian prisoners, nor did they hold events commemorating the release of Zionist prisoners, unlike previous prisoner exchange deals. Despite this, Palestinian joy was evident in the streets of cities and towns.
Today, the Zionist enemy received the last 20 living prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance, in addition to the bodies of four Zionist prisoners. At 8:00 a.m. Monday morning, the resistance handed over seven Israeli prisoners to a closed building in Gaza City, the location of which had been secretly identified. International Red Cross vehicles entered the building through a gate that was immediately closed, amidst the presence of members of al-Qassam Brigades, dressed in black and armed with machine guns. Palestinian civilians gathered outside the building after the location of the handover was discovered.
The Red Cross vehicles then proceeded to a point agreed upon with the Israeli enemy, where the prisoners were transferred to the Ra'im base. In Khan Yunis, the Palestinian resistance handed over 13 other prisoners to the Red Cross in an agricultural field, before they were handed over to the Israeli army. This evening, al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced the handover of the bodies of four Israeli prisoners as part of al-Aqsa Flood prisoner exchange deal.
Regarding Palestinian prisoners, 1,968 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli enemy prisons on Monday. These prisoners include: 250 prisoners serving life sentences, including those serving long sentences or expected to receive life sentences; and 1,718 prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. This release is based on the lists officially published within the framework of the recently concluded ceasefire agreement to end the aggression.
Among the prisoners, 154 deported prisoners were transferred to the Arab Republic of Egypt to complete their release procedures as part of the exchange deal, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Information Office.
While the city of Ramallah in the West Bank received a number of released Palestinian prisoners, thousands of Palestinians in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip received a large number of prisoners released as part of the exchange deal with the Israeli enemy on Monday evening. The prisoners arrived in batches in Khan Yunis on buses operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club explained in a joint statement Monday that this prisoner exchange deal is the third since the beginning of the genocide. In November 2023, 240 prisoners were released in several batches, and in January and February of this year, 1,777 prisoners were released in successive stages. This brings the total number of prisoners released in the three deals since the outbreak of the aggression on the Gaza Strip to 3,985, of various categories.
According to the statement, at least 78 prisoners and detainees have been martyred in the enemy's prisons and camps as a result of these crimes, while a number of martyrs remain forcibly disappeared. This period is considered the bloodiest in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement.
Following today's exchange deal, the number of Palestinian prisoners remaining in Israeli prisons is estimated at more than 9,100. These include only those held in central prisons, while hundreds remain in Israeli military camps. The number of Palestinian female prisoners has reached 52 following the release of Marwat Sarhan and Siham Abu Salem, in addition to approximately 400 children who remain in detention.
The Prisoners' Commission and the Prisoners' Club renewed their calls for the international human rights community to intervene seriously and end the unprecedented state of helplessness throughout this war. They also called for halting another form of genocide in Israeli prisons, allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit prisoners and detainees, ending the crime of enforced disappearance of many detainees in Gaza, and releasing them immediately.
"The images and scenes released by the released Palestinian prisoners Monday revealed the extent of the torture they were subjected to in the Zionist enemy's prisons, representing further evidence of the brutality and criminality still being practiced against thousands of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in the enemy's prisons and camps."
Many prisoners, particularly those from the Gaza Strip, showed clear signs of physical and psychological torture, while the Palestinian Prisoners' Commission and Prisoners' Club documented cases of abuse right up until the final moments of their release. The repression was not limited to the prisoners themselves; it extended to their families in the West Bank and Jerusalem, where they were subjected to organized campaigns of intimidation and threats aimed at preventing them from organizing any celebrations or appearing in the media.
Human rights organizations have documented at least 70 arrests among those released in previous prisoner exchange deals. Some were later released, while others remain in detention. Since the outbreak of the war of extermination, prisoners in the occupation's prisons and camps have faced a series of systematic crimes that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, most notably: physical and psychological torture, systematic starvation, deprivation of treatment and medical care, imposing conditions that have led to the spread of diseases and epidemics, collective isolation, and policies of theft and deprivation that have affected various aspects of life in detention.
In this context, freed Palestinian prisoner Kamal Abu Shanab confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities deliberately abused the prisoners until the very last moment before their release. Abu Shanab, 58, from the city of Tulkarm in the northern occupied West Bank, said, "The situation in prisons is very difficult: torture, oppression, humiliation, and fear."
He added, "Everything bad is experienced by Palestinian prisoners. The situation in prisons is indescribable." Pointing to the marks of shackles on his feet and hands, Abu Shanab told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli Prison Service left the prisoners slated for release handcuffed and shackled on the gravel for more than six hours.
Abu Shanab, who was sentenced to three life sentences, of which he had served 15 years, continued, "We heard the soldiers saying, 'How can they (the prisoners) endure this situation? What kind of strength do they have?'" He continued, "The prisoners were subjected to humiliation and torture." Everything they did to the prisoners."
In a similar statement, released Palestinian Sami Fatila described the situation of prisoners in Israeli prisons as "extremely difficult," noting that Israeli intelligence threatened those released with administrative detention (without charge).
He continued: "Today we are experiencing an indescribable feeling amidst the huge public reception here in Ramallah," in the central occupied West Bank. Regarding their release, Fatila, who had been detained since 2003 and sentenced to life imprisonment, said: "We were kept in handcuffs until the last moments." The situation is very difficult."
He added, "We speak very carefully. Every word we say is being recorded. We have been threatened by intelligence with administrative detention for the simplest things."
The freed Palestinian prisoner, Sameh Halabiya, revealed that the starvation practiced by the Israeli enemy in its prisons since the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip is slowly killing Palestinian prisoners. He stated that he has lost 40 kilograms. Halabiya, who spent 10 years in Israeli prisons, confirmed to Anadolu Agency that "the situation in the prisons is very difficult."
He stated that "all the prisoners are waiting to be released, (but) they do not know what is happening outside the prison." Regarding his release, Halabiya, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison, said that the Israeli authorities transferred him from his detention center without knowing the reason, and only learned yesterday, Sunday, that he was being released.
Regarding his health condition, he stressed that "the situation is difficult. In short, we have not had enough for two years. Hunger is killing." Prisoners. Halabiyeh, from the town of Abu Dis east of occupied Jerusalem, reported that he left prison weighing less than 60 kg, having lost approximately 40 kg.
Released prisoner Abdulnasser Issa emphasized that the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Palestinian resistance with the Zionist enemy represents a significant global political event, imposed by the legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Issa told Sanad News Agency that this achievement restored prestige to the Palestinian cause and placed it once again at the top of the world's priorities, after the war criminal Prime Minister of the Zionist entity, Benjamin Netanyahu, failed to achieve his declared goals of eliminating the resistance and was ultimately forced to sign the agreement, under which the Zionist entity's prisoners were also released.