2 hours ago
2
In the dead of night on Sunday, after hours of waiting, a white bus carrying dozens of Palestinian prisoners, released in exchange for three Israeli hostages handed over by Hamas to Israel, arrived at Fawakeh square in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
A group of young men had climbed on to the vehicle, waving Palestinian and Hamas flags. Disembarking from the coach were mostly women and many minors, the majority of whom were detained after 7 October 2023.
Many said they had been arrested just for writing a social media post; others for taking part in protests against the massacre of civilians in Gaza.
Latifa Misha’sha, 34, was one of the 90 prisoners freed on Sunday on the first day of the ceasefire deal aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza.
As soon as she emerged from the bus, she hugged her brother Basil, in tears, without saying anything for minutes.
“She was so skinny,” Basil says. “In those 20 months she has lost over 6 or more kilograms of her weight. She had been arrested on November 2023 for posting a picture supporting Gaza on Instagram.”
She was charged with incitement, like many arrested after October 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 250 people, triggering the recent conflict.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas, which is scheduled to last 42 days, the militant group has agreed to release 33 hostages including children, women (including soldiers) and men over 50, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Israel has published a list of 734 prisoners from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, due to be released under the deal, along with another 1,000 or so people from Gaza detained during the war as “unlawful combatants” without charge or trial.
About 230 prisoners, all serving life sentences for conducting or participating in deadly attacks against Israelis, are to be permanently exiled and reportedly deported to Turkey, Qatar or Algeria.
Hundreds of those remaining were jailed for lesser offences, or held in administrative detention, which allows for the preemptive arrest of individuals based on undisclosed evidence.
According to figures published by the Israeli NGO HaMoked, as of January 2025 there were 10,221 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. About 3,376 of them are held under administrative detention, while 1,886 are classified as unlawful combatants. The Israel Defense Forces and Israeli government say the measures comply with international law.
Palestinians have long alleged that imprisonment is a key element of Israel’s 57-year occupation: various estimates suggest that up to 40% of Palestinian men have been arrested at least once in their lives.
After the 7 October attack, the Israeli government announced a crackdown on social media posts seen as inflammatory, describing it as a “zero tolerance policy” towards activity deemed to express support for Hamas. Hundreds of Palestinians had been arrested since and charged “on suspicion of the offences of incitement, identification and support for terrorism”.
Among them was a well-known singer and influencer from Nazareth, Dalal Abu Amneh, who was held in police custody for two days before being released on bail. According to her lawyer, Abeer Baker, she was accused of “disruptive behaviour” by police officers, who said her posts could incite violence among her followers. The post which attracted police attention was an image of the Palestinian flag with the Arabic motto: “There is no victor but God.”
Shatha Jarabaa, 24 – who was arrested and also charged with incitement on 14 August last year, she says, over a social media post criticising the “brutality” of Israel’s campaign in Gaza – tells the Guardian she has lost 14kg during her detention.
“The treatment in prison was so bad,” she says. “Each prisoner had only one outfit. It was bitterly cold inside the detention centre. The rain would fall on us inside the cells. My arrest was illogical and unjustified. The charge was incitement and support for terrorist organisations due to posting Quranic verses on social media.
“It was a way to imprison as many women as possible because of the prisoners inside Gaza and to exchange them for the Israelis hostages. We were hostages as well because we were imprisoned against our will without any credible charges.”
On Sunday, she was greeted by her father, Nawaf Jarabaa, 63, who said: “I’m happy, but not too happy … my daughter was arrested simply for expressing her ideas.”
His anticipation was also tempered by the fact that two of his children were not included in the deal. One of them, Shatha said, is being detained for a post on social media described by Israeli authorities as “incitement for terrorism”.
Several prisoners released on Sunday reported to the Guardian having been mistreated or tortured during their detention by the Israeli Prison Service personnel. The testimonies build on a Guardian investigation and research from rights group B’Tselem that found violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse has been normalised across Israel’s jail system in the wake of 7 October.
“They arrested me because my brother died during a shootout in Jenin,” says Ahmed Walid Mohammed Khashan, 18, who according to the list released by Israel was arrested in January 2024 in Jenin and accused of of “shooting at people, passing on official secrets and licensing violations”.
“They raided our cells on Saturday before releasing us and threw teargas at us. They tortured us in the cell, every day. They also tortured and mistreated the women,” he said.
The Israeli Prison service said it “operates according to the provisions of the law and under the supervision of the state comptroller and many other official critiques”.
“All prisoners are detained according to the law. All basic rights required are fully applied by professionally trained prison guards.
“Prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.”
