‘My arrest was unjustified’: released Palestinians decry their imprisonment
Share:
Palestinian prisoners describe being held in poor conditions after their release as part of ceasefire deal. 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 Palestinian prisoner blows a kiss from the back of a van]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7d38d96dcb2d3483b192bda8419f1a2bfb1da5a4/284_680_4520_2712/master/4520.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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.
![[A white bus surrounded by a large crowd of Palestinians]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c57add5539df6f57a81567bcd6422863633b6795/0_221_7881_4727/master/7881.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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.
