Israel releases nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire deal

The Israeli prison service announced on Monday, October 13, that it had released nearly 2,000 detainees, primarily Palestinians, as part of a Gaza ceasefire agreement. In a statement, it said that "1,968 terrorists were transferred from various prisons across the country to the Ofer and Ktziot prisons." It added that "after completing the required procedures in the prisons and obtaining approval from political authorities, all the terrorists were released from the Ofer prison to (the West Bank) and East Jerusalem, and from the Ktziot prison to Kerem Shalom," referring to one of the crossings into the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis celebrated with joy on Monday as Red Cross buses returned with the former prisoners. Some climbed onto the slowly-moving buses as they navigated through the dense crowds gathered at Nasser Hospital, eager to hug or kiss a loved one they recognized.

"The greatest joy is seeing my whole family gathered to welcome me," Yusef Afana, a 25-year-old released prisoner from north Gaza, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "I spent 10 months in prison – some of the hardest days I’ve ever lived. The pain in prison isn’t only physical; it’s pain in the soul," he said, expressing hope along with many of his comrades for the swift release of all other prisoners in Israeli jails.

At Nasser Hospital, men in military uniforms and black balaclavas worked to maintain order as the prisoners, wearing the Israel Prison Service’s grey jumpsuits, disembarked from the buses. Patriotic music echoed from speakers, and Palestinian flags waved alongside those of Hamas or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

’Erase those memories’

Shadi Abu Sidu, a 32-year-old from the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, claimed that he and other prisoners experienced mistreatment while incarcerated. "Even right before our release, they continued to mistreat and humiliate us," he told AFP. "But now, we hope to erase those painful memories and start life anew."

Among the Palestinians freed under the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement, around 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the conflict, and 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis. Israel agreed to release them in exchange for hostages held in Gaza, marking the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict ignited by Hamas’s unexpected attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In Ramallah, a city in the occupied West Bank, a vast crowd assembled to welcome another group of about 100 prisoners released under the agreement. Some made victory signs while others struggled to walk unaided as they disembarked from the bus and were met by crowds cheering their homecoming. "It’s an indescribable feeling, a new birth," Mahdi Ramadan told AFP, standing alongside his parents, with whom he planned to spend his first evening out of jail. Nearby, families exchanged hugs, young men in tears pressed their foreheads together – some even fainted from the emotion of reuniting with loved ones after years, and in some cases decades, in prison.

’Beautiful moment’

Nour Soufan, aged 27, was set to meet his father, Moussa, who was imprisoned shortly after his birth, outside the jail for the first time. Soufan and several relatives traveled to Ramallah from Nablus, in the northern West Bank, and spent the night in their vehicle. "I have never seen my father, and this is the first time I will see him. This is a very beautiful moment," Soufan said. Along with many others, he had defied the travel restrictions that punctuate daily life in the Palestinian territory, with Israeli army checkpoints proliferating over two years of war.

Palestinian media reported on Sunday that families of detainees were contacted by Israeli authorities and asked not to organize mass celebrations. "No reception is allowed, no celebration is allowed, no gatherings," said Alaa Bani Odeh, who traveled from the northern town of Tammun to find his 20-year-old son, jailed for four years.

AFP spoke to several prisoners who expressed that in their initial hours of freedom, they intended to return home and be with their families. In previous releases, mass gatherings have filled entire streets in Ramallah, with people waving Palestinian flags as well as those of political factions, including Hamas.

Additionally, the remains of four hostages held in Gaza and handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas on Monday have been returned to Israel, according to the military. The bodies in four coffins arrived on Monday night at the National Institute for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, reported an AFP journalist. There, "identification procedures will be conducted," stated the military in a release.