Israel breaks hostage agreement, freeing 39 Palestinian teenagers and women. On Saturday, thirty-nine Palestinian women and teenagers who ...
Israel breaks hostage agreement, freeing 39 Palestinian teenagers and women.
On Saturday, thirty-nine Palestinian women and teenagers who had appeared to be in danger of violating the ceasefire agreement were released from Israeli prisons.
They were freed as part of a deal that also included the return of 26 Israeli captives who had been captured on October 7.
With this, 78 Palestinians have been freed in total since the beginning of the interim ceasefire.
Mohammad dar-Darwish, 17, one of those freed, said he was "dizzy with happiness" to be going home.
The exchange was postponed due to allegations from Hamas that Israel had altered the list of inmates it had agreed to release.
In addition, Hamas claimed that not all of the relief supplies that were supposed to reach Gaza under the terms of the agreement had arrived. However, the transfer took place following last-minute negotiations between Egypt and Qatar.
On Sunday, the deal entered its third day, and Israel denied violating any of its conditions.
A coach transporting freed Palestinians was hailed on Saturday night by a throng of people, some of whom were flying the Hamas green flag, as it passed through the West Bank, where detainees are initially being returned.
All but six of them were under the age of eighteen, and six of them were women.
Among them was Mohammad dar-Darwish, who spent seven months in an Israeli prison on charges of hurling a petrol bomb at soldiers. He refutes the accusation.
When he got home and saw his father and brother in the crowd waiting to welcome the captives, he claimed to be "dizzy with happiness."
In an interview with the BBC, he stated that following the October 7th attack, Palestinian detainees suffered abuse. According to Israel's prison service, inmates are treated legally.
A list of 300 Palestinian inmates—mostly teenage boys—who qualify for release under the terms of the agreement reached with Hamas has been created by Israel.
The majority are incarcerated pending trial; less than 25% of individuals on the list have been found guilty.
Israa Jaabis, an adult woman who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2015 after her automobile caught fire 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) from a checkpoint in the West Bank, was one of the women who was released.
Israa Jaabis, now 38, has contested the charge and her family has previously stated that the fire started due to an engine malfunction. Israel alleged that it was an attempted car bombing and that she was found guilty.
After the car's engine caught fire, she sustained severe burns to her face, but Israel's prison officials denied her demands for surgery.
She was seen holding her 15-year-old son Mua'tassim, who was eight years old when his mother was arrested, after serving eight years of her sentence and being released from prison.
A portion of the inmates freed as part of the cease-fire agreement were minors when they were taken into custody.
When Marah Bakeer was sixteen, she attacked a border police officer with a knife and received an eight and a half year sentence.
She said, "I'm emotional, it's a very good feeling," and mentioned that she had only learned about her release hours before it took place after arriving back at her family's home in East Jerusalem.
Nourhan Awad, 23, was freed on Saturday after serving eight of her ten-year sentence.
She was shot by police while being arrested after being found guilty of stabbing someone in Jerusalem. During the arrest, her cousin was shot and murdered.
After being freed, she was shown on camera rushing to her relatives in Qalandia, West Bank, and claiming to have visited her cousin's grave before leaving.
On Saturday night, a second set of Israeli hostages—all of whom were women and children—were freed from Gaza.
As per the arrangement, further prisoners and hostages are scheduled to be released on Sunday.
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