Israeli-occupied West Bank celebration breaks out Ninety Palestinian prisoners, most of them women, were released from Israeli prisons as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Families in the West Bank waited until the early hours of Monday to receive their relatives, most of whom were detained without charge.

The ceasefire ended Israel’s more than 15-month war in Gaza and also released Three Israeli prisoners. more captive The prisoners are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

this is what we know Palestinian prisoner Who was released:

Who are some of the famous Palestinians who were freed?

The prisoners, who included 69 women and 21 children, were released at around 1am on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday). They were transported by Red Cross bus to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

only eight of them 90 prisoners He was arrested before October 7, 2023, when the Hamas-led Palestinian group launched attacks in southern Israel. The attacks killed more than 1,100 people, captured about 250, and triggered Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in its offensive on Gaza and has been criticized for using disproportionate force against civilians and targeting hospitals and schools. It has also killed more than 850 Palestinians and detained more than 7,000 in frequently violent attacks in the West Bank.

Khaleda Jalal, leader of the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and feminist activist, is one of the most prominent prisoners to be released.

Jalal has been serving a prison sentence in Israel since 2015 for his outspoken defense of the rights of Palestinian prisoners and his affiliation with an “illegal” political party. The PFLP is considered a “terrorist” organization by Israel.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a 2016 statement that Jalal’s multiple arrests were part of a broader Israeli crackdown on nonviolent political opposition to its half-century military occupation of Palestinian land.

She was last arrested on December 26, 2023.

The Palestinian was first arrested in March 1989 during an International Women’s Day protest at Birzeit University in the West Bank. She was a master’s student at the time.

Jalal became a feminist leader for her fight against gender stereotypes and her work to empower female entrepreneurs in the West Bank. She does community work in Nablus, helping to clean public spaces and improve public schools. She was later elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council.

From 1994 to 2006, she served as Director of the Adamel Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

Jalal told The Associated Press after the game: “We live with this double feeling: on the one hand, we are grateful to everyone for the sense of freedom that we have been given, and on the other hand, we feel the pain of losing so many Palestinian martyrs. “She was released.

Another prominent released prisoner is journalist Rula Hassanein, editor of the Wattan Media Network in Ramallah. She was arrested by Israeli forces on March 19 as part of a mass arrest of Palestinians.

Hasain, 30, was tried before an Israeli military court in Israel’s Ofer prison. She has been accused of incitement on social media, reportedly retweeting posts on X and expressing dismay at the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

How many more prisoners will be released?

The first phase of the three-phase ceasefire lasts for 42 days. During this period, 33 Israeli prisoners will be released, including female civilians and soldiers as well as children and elderly civilians.

In exchange, up to 1,900 Palestinian prisoners will be released.

On the first day of exchange, Three Israeli prisoners The three people released from Gaza were: Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31.

About 100 prisoners are believed to remain in Gaza before their release. It’s unclear how many people are still alive.

According to reports, in addition to the 33 prisoners planned to be released in the first phase, the remaining prisoners, all male soldiers, will be released in exchange for an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners.

How many Palestinians are in Israeli prisons?

Before Monday’s release of 90 prisoners, there were 10,400 Palestinians in Israeli jails, excluding those detained in Gaza during the past 15 months of war, according to the Palestinian Detainee and Former Detainee Affairs Council and the Palestinian Prisoners Association.

“If they do little to challenge the status quo, they will face jail time,” said Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim. Ibrahim said many children were imprisoned by Israel for throwing rocks at Israeli troops.

“There are hundreds of people on the prisoner list who have been released, most of whom were serving their sentences administrative detentionwhich is a tactic used by Israel to jail people indefinitely without charge,” Ibrahim said.

prison conditions

“I left hell and now I am in heaven. We are all out of hell where they violated us, beat us, fired tear gas at us,” said Abdulaziz Atto, a boy released from an Israeli prison on Monday Abdelaziz Atawneh told the media.

“No food, no candy, no salt,” he said.

Israeli prisons are notorious Abuse of Palestinian prisoners Observers commented that Jalal appeared frail compared to his most recent arrest.

UN agencies, investigators and human rights groups have documented arbitrary arrests, inhuman and degrading treatment, Palestinians tortured and killed in Israeli custody.

On the other hand, the captives who were released and sent to Israel appeared to be in good health, according to Israeli media reports.

The three captives “along with their mother have just arrived at a hospital where they will be reunited with other family members and receive treatment,” the Israeli military said in a statement. The three freed prisoners are currently at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

In April, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, director of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, died in Ofer prison in Israel. his family called bosh tortured to death.

“The release of Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, does not mean a change in conditions of imprisonment. Israeli negotiators insist there will be no changes inside Israeli prisons,” Basil Faraj, assistant professor at Birzeit University, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s actually very concerning and explains why families gather to receive their loved ones because they know the hell (prisoners) go through is brutal.”

Farage added: “This shows that the purpose of this prison regime is to abuse Palestinian prisoners. It deliberately seeks to destroy their spirits and souls.”