Israel releases 90 Palestinian prisoners after Hamas frees 3 Israeli hostages

Israel, Jan. 21: Israel has freed 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The release came early Monday, more than seven hours after three Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza returned to Israel.

A large bus carrying dozens of Palestinian detainees exited the gates of Israel's Ofer prison, just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israel's military, which occupies the West Bank, warned Palestinians against public celebration, but crowds thronged the buses after they left the prison, some people climbing on top or waving flags, including those of Hamas.

There were fireworks and whistles, and shouts of "God is great." Those released were hoisted onto others' shoulders or embraced.

According to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority's Commission for Prisoners' Affairs, all of those released are women or teens, the youngest 15. Israel detained them for what it said were offenses related to Israel's security, from throwing stones to more serious accusations like attempted murder.

The Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people and left some 250 others captive. Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half the dead.

Meanwhile, Bara'a Al-Fuqha, 22, hugged her family as she stepped off the white Red Cross bus and into the sea of cheering Palestinians welcoming the 90 Palestinians freed by Israel early Monday.

A medical student at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem before her arrest, she had spent around six months in Damon Prison. She said she was held under administrative detention — a policy of indefinite imprisonment without formal charge or trial that Israel almost exclusively uses against Palestinians. Israel says that the cases of Palestinians released as part of the exchange with Hamas for Israeli hostages all relate to state security charges.

Al-Fuqha said her conditions in Israeli prison were "terrible," her access to food and water limited.

"It was like, when we tried to hold our heads high, the guards would do their best to hold us down," she said.

But now, reunited with her family, al-Fuqha displayed a sense of relief and defiance.

"Thank God, I am here with my family, I'm satisfied," she said. "But my joy is limited, because so many among us Palestinians are being tortured and abused. Our people in Gaza are suffering. God willing, we will work to free them, too."

That reflected a wider feeling in the crowd, with many saying this release offered a small, if fleeting, moment of joy, tempered by the 15 months of death and destruction in Gaza.

Similarly, United Nations humanitarian officials say that more than 630 trucks of humanitarian aid have entered the besieged Gaza Strip, in implementation of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

In a post on social media platform X, Tom Fletcher, the United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs said that over 630 trucks entered Gaza on Sunday, with at least 300 of them bringing humanitarian assistance into the north.

"There is no time to lose," Fletcher wrote. "After 15 months of relentless war, the humanitarian needs are staggering."

The Gaza ceasefire deal, which began Sunday with an initial phase lasting six weeks, calls for the entry into Gaza of 600 trucks carrying humanitarian relief daily. Over the course of the deal's first stage, 33 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza will also be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Aid workers have been scrambling to address Gaza's dire humanitarian needs after 15 months of devastating war and tough Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries and the movement of convoys within Gaza. Lawlessness and looting by armed gangs has also been a major obstacle to aid distribution.

Before this latest Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza was under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade that allowed the entry of some 500 trucks a day carrying commercial supplies and humanitarian aid.

And, Hamas' office of prisoner affairs has issued a statement saying the delay in Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners was the result of a last-minute conflict over the names on the list. (AP)