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Palestinian prisoners (wearing grey jumpers) cheer after being released from the Israeli Ofer military facility in Baytunia near the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank in exchange for hostages freed by Hamas in Gaza, on 24 November 2023.
- Celebrations
marked the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. - Israel
released 39 prisoners as part of a truce agreement to pause fighting in Gaza. - Hamas
released 13 Israeli hostages on Friday as part of the agreement. - Follow it live.
Firecrackers
lit up the night sky Friday as raucous celebrations – mixed with defiance –
marked the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons in
exchange for the first wave of hostages freed by Hamas in Gaza.
Crowds
across the West Bank cheered and waved Palestinian and Hamas flags, along with
kaffiyeh scarves after two white coaches – escorted by armoured vehicles –
exited the Ofer military camp with the prisoners.
“I am
happy but my liberation came at the price of the blood of the martyrs,”
said Marah Bakir, 24, referring to the nearly 15 000 deaths across the Gaza
Strip that its Hamas-led government says were caused by Israel’s military
offensive.
Freedom
from “the four walls of the prison” was “magnificent”, said
Bakir, who had been in custody for eight years.
“I
spent the end of my childhood and my adolescence in prison, far from my parents
and their hugs,” she told AFP after returning to her family home in Beit
Hanina in annexed east Jerusalem.
“That’s
how it is with a state that oppresses us.”
‘Eating
bitterness’
A total of
39 prisoners were released by Israeli authorities under a truce agreement to
pause the fighting in Gaza, after 13 hostages from Israel had been handed over.
READ | South African woman among 24 hostages released by Hamas on Friday
The 7
October attack by Hamas militants on southern Israeli communities left 1 200
people dead – the worst death toll since the creation of Israel in 1948 –
according to Israeli authorities.
On the
Palestinian side, officials say more people have died in Gaza in the current
wave of Israeli strikes than during the two intifadas put together.
Hanan
Al-Barghouti, 58, released after two months in Israeli custody, lauded the
armed wing of Hamas, its leader, and the people of Gaza.
“May
God reward them well on our behalf,” she said. “If it were not for
the people of Gaza, we would not have seen freedom.
She continued:
We were inside the prison, eating bitterness. They were sadists. They insulted us and humiliated us, but our pride is high and our dignity is elevated, thanks to the resistance.
Palestinian
prisoners wearing grey jumpers were paraded in Beitunia in the occupied West
Bank in front of euphoric supporters, many of whom broke down in tears.
Before
their release, clouds of white smoke filled the air close to the prison as
Israeli authorities fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. The Palestinian Red
Crescent said three people were shot and wounded by Israeli security forces.
“The
Israeli police are at our house and are preventing people from coming to see
us,” said Fatina Salman, the mother of Malak, 23, who was arrested on the
way to school in 2016 for trying to stab a police officer in Jerusalem.
She was not
due to be released until 2025 but returned to a triumphant welcome in her
neighbourhood of Beit Safafa.
“My
daughter is weak, she hasn’t eaten since yesterday,” said Salman.
‘Tears of joy’
In the West
Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, more than 200 Palestinians have been
killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers since the 7 October attacks, according
to the health ministry of the Palestinian Authority.
Heavily
armed Israeli troops are again carrying out raids in Palestinian towns,
manoeuvres supposedly eliminated in some areas of the West Bank by the Oslo
accords.
But Friday
was a night of celebration for many Palestinians.
“I’m
very happy to be with my family and very happy that I will start a new life
with them,” said Bakir.
“I’m
also thrilled to see how happy they are,” she said, adding: “Yes,
they are crying, but it’s the tears of joy.”
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