Ofer military prison Archives

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

‘Its Like Guantanamo’ Freed Prisoner Says of Israeli Jail

CrossFireArabia
July 10, 2024

Laying on a hospital bed in Beit Jala in the southern West Bank, Moazzam Khalil Abayat cannot believe he was released from the Negev prison in southern Israel.

⚡️ “Negev is Like Guantanamo”: Palestinian Released from Israeli Prison in Terrifying Condition

37 year-old Muazzam Khalil Abayat was detained last October in Bethlehem and held without charge under Israel’s notorious administrative detention policy

Currently at least 3,380… pic.twitter.com/jXjNeDr3lg
— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) July 10, 2024

Abayat, 37, from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, was released in a “shocking” health condition on Tuesday after a nine-month detention without charge under Israel’s notorious policy of administrative detention.

“Negev prison is like Guantanamo. I saw prisoners killed and trampled on with boots,” Abayat told Anadolu.

“Every night, we were severely beaten. Only last night, I wasn’t hit,” he said.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 The Palestinian prisoner Muazzaz Khalil Abayat (37 years old) from Bethlehem, south of the West Bank, after spending 9 months in administrative detention, and he is in a “difficult and shocking” health condition pic.twitter.com/RZ3ACvTUfZ
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 10, 2024

Despite being surrounded by family and friends at the hospital, Abayat remains disoriented, believing he is still in detention.

“After my arrest, I was subjected to military interrogation and accused of being a murderer. I have never killed anyone,” he recalled.

“I suffered fractures in my head and hand, I was beaten on sensitive and injured areas. I was put in a black bag as if I was dead.”

Abayat said far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participated in torture at Ofer military prison, west of Ramallah.

Video | A difficult and shocking situation.. This is how the occupation released the Palestinian prisoner Moaz Khalil Abayat (37 years old) after 9 months of administrative detention https://t.co/zz89J2sPvg
— Laithmeister (@laithmeister1) July 9, 2024

“Prisoners are dying in jails. This is an appeal to everyone to take action to save them,” he said.

Abayat’s speech was occasionally incoherent, indicating he still experiences severe psychological distress as if he were still imprisoned.

Family in shock

Abayat’s father, Khalil, was shocked by the health condition of his son.

“The family is in great shock. Moazzaz seems like a completely different person,” he told Anadolu.

“My son was a bodybuilder, worked in a butcher shop, was sociable, and a breadwinner of five. Today, he has almost lost his memory, is nearly paralyzed, thin, unable to walk, and does not recognize many family members,” Khalil added.

He noted that Moazzaz’s weight dropped from around 110 kilograms to barely 50 kilograms.

“Moazzaz was beaten throughout his detention, from the moment he was arrested until his release.”

Brutally assaulted

Dr. Nizar Qumsiyeh, the medical director of the hospital, said, Abayat has various bruises and is in a severe psychological state.

“We have begun medical tests and are awaiting the results, but it is clear he believes he is still in prison and surrounded by jailers,” Qumsiyeh added.

“He needs further examination and follow-up to determine his dietary needs to regain his physical health and then begin potentially long-term psychological treatment.”

According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Abayat was brutally beaten during his arrest in late October 2023.

Las autoridades de ocupación israelíes liberaron al detenido Muazzaz Khalil Abayat (37 años) de Belén, en un pésimo estado de salud debido a las golpizas, inanición y otras formas las torturas a las que fue sometido durante 9 meses en detención administrativa. pic.twitter.com/5p4vUXt80O
— Embajada del Estado de Palestina en Chile (@embpalestinacl) July 10, 2024

“He was subjected to a series of vicious assaults, including torture and starvation,” it said. “His health condition after his release today serves as a testament to what he endured during his detention.”

Abayat was previously detained twice by Israeli forces. He did not suffer any health problems before his latest arrest.

At least 3,380 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held without charge in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian figures.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

Nearly 38,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 88,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.