Ramallah Archives - Page 3 of 6

Israel Frees 32 Palestinian Prisoners

CrossFireArabia
February 1, 2025

Thirty-two Palestinians were released from Israeli jails on Saturday as part of the fourth batch of the prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas.

The freed prisoners were handed over to the International Red Cross from the Ofer Prison facility near Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, in line with the terms of the cease-fire and prisoner swap deal that took effect on Jan. 19.

According to an Anadolu correspondent, hundreds of Palestinians gathered near the Ramallah Cultural Palace to welcome the freed prisoners, waving Palestinian flags and chanting in support of the Palestinian resistance and Gaza.

Despite earlier warnings by the Israeli army, the crowd gathered to receive the prisoners, who raised victory signs in defiance of Israeli orders.

Many of the released prisoners appeared in poor health, with some barely able to walk. They were taken to hospitals in Ramallah for medical checks and treatment, the Anadolu correspondent added.

Commenting on the freed Palestinians’ poor health, the Hamas group said this confirms “the brutality” of what Palestinians prisoners endure in Israeli jails.

Hamas described these violations as “war crimes and crimes against humanity that require immediate intervention by the international community, the UN and the rights’ group.”

Meanwhile, the International Red Cross staff were ‘angry’ over the way Israel released the Palestinian prisoners on Saturday as they were led out in shackles with their hands behind their heads, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Earlier, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, released three captives from Gaza and handed them over to the Red Cross.

A total of 183 Palestinians are expected to be released Saturday from Israeli jails, including 111 who were arrested by the Israeli army in Gaza after Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Prisoners’ Information Office.

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Palestine Belongs to The Palestinians

CrossFireArabia
January 29, 2025

Features

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.

Features

Israel-Jailed Khalida Jarrar is Out But at What Cost?

CrossFireArabia
January 22, 2025

Freed Palestinian leader, politician, and activist Khalida Jarrar said Israeli authorities do not treat Palestinian prisoners as human beings, describing the conditions in jails as “the worst and most difficult since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967.”

In the early hours of Monday, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement that suspended its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed more than 47,000 lives since Oct. 7, 2023, and left the enclave in ruins.

Jarrar, who was held in administrative detention in December 2023, was among those set free. It came after three female Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza were released. Administrative detention is a policy that allows Israeli authorities to hold individuals without charge or trial.

Khalida Jarrar is free after over 5 months of solitary confinement!! Glory to the Resistance! pic.twitter.com/DcgWyV3xVY
— أميرة (@amiratalshaab) January 20, 2025

Speaking to Anadolu, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who has been arrested multiple times, said Israeli prison conditions “have never been as harsh as they are now, be it the repeated assaults or constant use of tear gas.”

Describing the state of prisons in Israel, Jarrar said the Palestinians endure “poor quality and insufficient quantity of food, as well as the solitary confinement policy practiced by the occupation authorities.”

“I spent six months in solitary confinement,” she said, adding that “many Palestinians are held in solitary cells in very harsh conditions.”

The senior politician said what is happening in Israeli prisons is a result of policies by the current Israeli government and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister who resigned after the Gaza truce, trying “to deal with the prisoners as if they are not humans.”

As Jarrar, 61, was led through a cheering crowd, it could be seen her once-dark hair had grayed, and she looked exhausted.

“We were subjected to extreme harshness and physical assault in a deliberate and intentional attempt to humiliate and demean us,” she said.

The lawmaker stressed that the prisoners’ cause is “an integral part of our people’s causes,” and all Israeli policies against the prisoners must be confronted nationally.

Jarrar was elected as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the last parliamentary elections held in 2006. She has served as the head of the assembly’s prisoners commission and was also appointed to the Palestinian committee for follow-up with the International Criminal Court.

Jarrar was arrested by the Israeli army several times on accusations of affiliation to an “outlawed” party and for her role in activities supporting Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

According to prisoners’ affairs groups, she was repeatedly mistreated by prison guards, affecting her well-being.

Estimates put the number of Palestinian detainees at Israeli prisons at over 11,000.

Khalida Jarrar, the imprisoned leader, academic and struggler for Palestinian prisoners, emerges liberated after 5 months and 1 week in solitary confinement in the occupation prisons, freed by the Resistance in the Flood of the Free! pic.twitter.com/2UZSexWEeH
— Samidoun Network (@SamidounPP) January 20, 2025

Hamas released the three Israeli captives under the ceasefire deal, which took effect on Sunday.

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

News

Is Smotrich up to His Word?

CrossFireArabia
January 6, 2025

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich incites in a statement on X against West Bank towns provocatively asserted that Palestinian towns in the West Bank “should resemble [Gaza’s] Jabalia” alluding to the heavily bombarded region in Gaza.

He added that Israel should not trust the Palestinian Authority when assessing its security needs. This is not the first time he incited against the Palestinian people.

Previously, he reaffirmed his determination to implement a plan to seize control of the West Bank and block the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Smotrich called Monday for massive destruction in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin as the case in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

“Funduq, Nablus, and Jenin must look like Jabalia,” Smotrich said.

His call came after three illegal Israeli settlers were killed in a shooting attack in the village of Funduq in the central West Bank.

The extremist minister called for an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss what he called “a change in Israel’s approach” in the occupied West Bank according to Anadolu.