The 90 Palestinian Prisoners Released By Israel Have Finally Returned Home And Reunited With Their Families
The freed Palestinians included 69 women and 21 teenage boys — some as young as 12 — detained from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
Israel released 90 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons on Sunday, Jan. 19, as part of phase one of its ceasefire deal with Hamas.
This came after Hamas released three women Israeli hostages held in Gaza earlier on the same day.
The freed Palestinians included 69 women and 21 teenage boys — some as young as 12 — detained from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, Al Jazeera reported.
Only eight of the 90 released were arrested after Israel began its genocide in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
Families and supporters waited until 1 am on Monday, Jan. 20, to meet their loved ones in the West Bank.
Israel often detains Palestinians under “administrative detention”, which allows them to be imprisoned without charges or trial, according to Amnesty International.
Between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 2023, Israel arrested more than 2,000 Palsetinians under administrative detention, and reports indicate that more have been arrested.
The Addameer human rights organization reported that Palestinian detainees can be interrogated for a total period of 90 days, during which they can also be denied lawyer visits for a period of 60 days.
In addition, Israeli authorities often mistreat and torture Palestinian detainees by beating them, tying them in “stress positions”, subjecting them to interrogation sessions that last up to 12 consecutive hours, depriving them of sleep, isolating them and putting them in solitary confinement, and threatening the lives of their relatives.
Israel is expected to release about 2,000 Palestinians during the next six weeks.
However, it arrested 60 other Palestinians on Monday, Jan. 20, in a raid on the town of Azzun in Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.
It has also launched a major military raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli military source told the Times of Israel that the raid, called "Operation Iron Wall" was expected to go on for "at least several days", Al Jazeera reported.
The operation has already killed 10 Palestinians and injured about 35 others, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
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