CrossFireArarbia

After 39 Years Israel Frees ‘Dean of Palestinian Prisoners’

CrossFireArabia
January 25, 2025

After 39 years of mistreatment and retaliation in Israeli jails, Mohammed Al-Tous, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, was released on Saturday as part of the second batch under phase one of the Jan. 19 ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange deal.

Al-Tous, nicknamed the “dean of Palestinian Prisoners,” hails from the village of Jab’a in Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank. He has spent 39 years in Israeli prisons since his arrest in 1985.

Who is the dean of Palestinian Prisoners?

Mohammed Ahmed Abdul-Hamid Al-Tous, 69, is the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli detention. He was arrested in October 1985 and sentenced to life in prison for leading a group in carrying out military operations against Israeli military targets. He sustained severe injuries during his arrest.

Over the years, Al-Tous endured various forms of mistreatment and retaliation. In addition to the serious injuries he suffered during his arrest from Israeli gunfire and enduring lengthy and harsh interrogations, the Israeli forces demolished his family home three times.

Israel repeatedly refused to release Al-Tous in all prisoner exchange deals and release initiatives during his incarceration, including a group of veteran prisoners in 2014, in which he was listed, but Israel refused to release.

JUST IN: Muhammad Al-Tous had been released!

He was arrested when he was a child and had been detained for 40 years continuously.

He is the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner and spent 39 years in Israeli prisons.

He will be extradited to Egypt pic.twitter.com/Hs11sj7ljA
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) January 25, 2025

A year later, his wife’s health deteriorated, and she fell into a coma for a full year before passing away in 2015, without Al-Tous being able to bid her farewell.

Al-Tous is among the veteran prisoners detained before the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords, a group that now numbers 21 prisoners following last year’s death of Walid Daqqa.

This group is joined by 11 re-arrested prisoners from the Gilad Shalit exchange deal of 2011, who had been imprisoned before the Oslo Accords, released in 2011, and then re-arrested in 2014, most notably Nael Barghouthi.

Prisoner exchange

Palestinian resistance group Hamas earlier Saturday handed over four female Israeli soldiers under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.

Some 200 Palestinian prisoners were also released on Saturday in exchange for the four freed Israeli soldiers.

Television footage showed the arrival of 114 prisoners to the West Bank city of Ramallah from the Ofer Military Prison aboard three International Red Cross buses.

Sixteen prisoners, accompanied by Red Cross representatives, also arrived at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, to the warm welcome of thousands.

Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel also reported that two buses carrying 70 freed Palestinian prisoners arrived in Egypt under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The Prisoners’ Media Office said early Saturday that the freed prisoners include 121 who had been serving life sentences and 79 with lengthy sentences.

It added that 70 of those serving life sentences will be sent outside the Palestinian territories.

Under phase one of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel is now set to withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor area that separates northern Gaza from its south, allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Ceasefire seeking permanent truce

The first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 111,000 since Oct. 7, 2023.

On day one of the ceasefire, Israel released 90 Palestinian detainees in return for three Israeli captives set free by Hamas.

The three-phase ceasefire agreement includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza according to Anadolu.

The Israeli onslaught has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of untold numbers of elderly people, women, and children.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

News

Israel Tell Us UNRWA to ‘Pack Up And Leave’

CrossFireArabia
January 25, 2025

The Israeli envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, demanding that UNRWA cease its operations in the Israeli-occupied territories, including Jerusalem, by the end of January 2025.

“UNRWA is required to cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city, no later than 30 January 2025,” Danny Danon stated in the letter.

News

What is Trump’s New Gift to Israel?

CrossFireArabia
January 25, 2025

The Trump White House instructed the Pentagon to release the hold imposed by the Biden administration on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, three Israeli officials told Axios. The officials stated that 1,800 MK-84 bombs, which were held in storage in the U.S., will be put on a ship and delivered to Israel in the coming days.

Last May, then-President Joe Biden paused the delivery of a weapons shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs that Israel had used to flatten wide swathes of Gaza Strip.

His decision to halt the shipment was made due to concerns over its possible use in a heavily populated area.

News

Released Israeli Female Soldiers Thank Hamas Fighters For Their Good Treatment

CrossFireArabia
January 25, 2025

The Al-Qassam Brigades published a video clip, Saturday evening, showing 4 Israeli female soldiers released, expressing their gratitude in Arabic to the Palestinian factions for the good treatment they received during their captivity and for preserving their lives despite the violent Israeli bombardment.

The video, which was broadcast by Al-Qassam via its Telegram account, shows the female soldiers in a car while they were being transported to be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, as part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel with international and regional mediation.

While they were inside the car before the handover, the female soldiers expressed their gratitude to the Al-Qassam Brigades for the good treatment they received.

One of them said: “Peace be upon you, thank you to the Al-Qassam Brigades for the good treatment.”

Another added: “Thank you for the food, drink and clothes.”

A third female soldier thanked the faction fighters who were “protecting us and protecting us from the bombardment.”

While the fourth expressed her wish that this day would be “a happy day for everyone.”

At the end of the clip, the female soldiers were seen chanting loudly the date “January 25,” which was the day of their release, near the Gaza beach, where the video was filmed before they were handed over to the Red Cross.

On Saturday afternoon, Hamas released 4 Israeli female soldiers and handed them over to the Red Cross, which in turn handed them over to the Israeli side, as part of the second batch of the first phase of the exchange deal and ceasefire in Gaza.

In exchange for each Israeli female soldier, 50 Palestinian prisoners will be exchanged, including 30 serving life sentences and 20 serving long sentences, according to what a Hamas source told Anadolu Agency, Saturday.

In total, Israel currently holds more than 10,300 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons, and it is estimated that there are about 96 Israeli prisoners in Gaza.

The Gaza ceasefire agreement, which went into effect on January 19, included a deal to release Israeli prisoners in Gaza in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

In the first phase of the agreement, which consists of three stages, each lasting 42 days, the terms stipulate the gradual release of 33 Israelis held in Gaza, whether alive or dead, in exchange for a number of Palestinian detainees estimated between 1,700 and 2,000.

Indeed, the first exchange, which took place on the first day of the agreement, saw the release of three female Israeli civilian prisoners in exchange for 90 male and female Palestinian child detainees, all from the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem according to the Anadolu news agency.

With American support, Israel committed genocide in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, leaving more than 158,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing, and one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

News

Amidst Hamas Fighters 4 Female Israeli Soldiers Release

CrossFireArabia
January 25, 2025

In a dramatic display of power, elite fighters from the Palestinian resistance group Hamas appeared with Israeli Tavor rifles during the handover of four female Israeli soldiers in Gaza City.

The rifles, reportedly seized during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israeli military bases and settlements near Gaza, were prominently featured on podium set up at Palestine Square in Gaza City to hand over the four soldiers.

“Hamas chose to include fighters from an elite unit carrying Tavor rifles from the Israeli army’s elite unit during the handover process,” Amir Bohbot, a military correspondent for the Israeli news web Walla, said, citing a military source.

“These rifles were most likely seized on Oct., 2023,” he added.

Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers early Saturday under the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.

The freed soldiers are members of the Israeli army’s surveillance unit at the Nahal Oz base.

The four freed soldiers wearing the Israeli military uniform smiled and waved on a stage set up at the square as they were transferred to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“The handover event organized by Hamas was meticulously planned and executed at Palestine Square in Gaza City,” the Israeli Channel 12 said.

“Hamas exploited this dramatic moment to convey propaganda messages, erecting a platform in the middle of the square with symbols of the Israeli army and the Shin Bet security service, along with a Hebrew headline: ‘Zionism will not win’.”

Message of superiority

The Israeli channel said long convoys of armed men from Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups streamed into the square since early morning.

“Activists carrying weapons and organization flags were positioned around the central platform in a pre-planned formation to create an image of victory for the cameras broadcasting the release of the captives to the entire world,” it added.

“The carefully chosen setting and decor – Israeli symbols and Hebrew inscriptions – show a planned effort by Hamas to turn the ceremony for the release of the female soldiers into a propaganda show,” the channel said.

“Hamas invested significant resources in designing the square, with the aim of conveying a message of control and superiority.

“The female soldiers were brought to the podium, where they held each other’s hands, smiled and waved,” the channel commented.

Some 200 Palestinian prisoners are also scheduled to be released on Saturday in exchange for the four freed Israeli soldiers.

Under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire day, Israel is planned to withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor area that separates northern Gaza from its south, allowing displaced Palestinian to return to their areas in northern Gaza.

The first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed nearly 47,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 111,400 since Oct. 7, 2023.

On the first day of the ceasefire, Israel released 90 Palestinian detainees in return for three Israeli captives set free by Hamas.

The three-phase ceasefire agreement includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The Israeli onslaught has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.