One Hundred Prisoners Released by Israel Arrive in Ramallah, West Bank
People cheer as Palestinian former prisoners, who were released by Israel as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, return to Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 25 January 2025. Israel and Hamas implemented the first phase of a hostage release and ceasefire deal on 19 January 2025. Photo: EFE/EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
January 25, 2025 Hour: 2:19 pm
A hundred Palestinian prisoners released by Israel on Saturday in the West Bank arrived in several buses at a center in Ramallah prepared for their reception, where hundreds of people and family members were waiting to carry them on their shoulders as they got off the vehicles.
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These prisoners are part of a total of 200 detainees in Israeli prisons that Israel released on Saturday, in the second hostage swap of the ceasefire agreed upon with Hamas, which in turn has released four Israeli female soldiers.
According to a spokesperson of the West Bank Commission on Prisoners and Express, of the 200 detainees, about 115 would be released in the West Bank, another 15 in the Gaza Strip and 70 in Egypt. Another Palestinian source in Gaza indicated that 107 would be released in Ramallah and 5 in Jerusalem.
The freed individuals in occupied West Bank arrived aboard three buses at the so-called Ramallah Recreational Center, where they were awaited by hundreds of people holding Palestinian, Fatah, and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine flags, as well as family members and Red Cross officials.
With shaved heads and dressed in gray tracksuits, the prisoners were hoisted onto shoulders right after getting off the buses and carried in this manner through the crowd that filled the square where the reception center is located, amidst cheers and hugs.
Of the 200 prisoners released this Saturday by Israel, 120 were sentenced to life imprisonment, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Commission, which disseminated the list of those freed as part of the second exchange for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
This commission recorded that, among those sentenced to life imprisonment who were released, 81 belonged to Hamas, 23 to Islamic Jihad, 13 to the secular Fatah movement, two to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and one to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The list includes the longest-serving Palestinian in an Israeli prison, Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Hamid Al Tus, from Bethlehem, who has been incarcerated since 1985 and is 69 years old. The youngest freed individual, Saiz Nasser Mahmud Arar, is 15 years old.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: EFE
