In a smoke-filled room in Bethlehem, 4 males pore over a listing – simply launched – of the names of Palestinian detainees to be freed in part one of many ceasefire deal.
Some 735 names are on the record – 328 of them handed a number of life sentences, 74 have confronted no expenses and 49 are below “administrative detention”, which suggests they’ve been held for an indeterminate period of time, with out cost.
Gaza newest: No ceasefire with out record of hostages to be freed, Netanyahu warns
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Firas Hassan hopes the ceasefire lasts lengthy sufficient to get his son again
One room right here is packed ground to ceiling in case recordsdata.
“Since 1967 the Israeli occupation has arrested 1.2 million Palestinians,” says Abdullah Zaghari, the director of the organisation.
Now, he says, 10,400 Palestinians – from the West Financial institution and East Jerusalem – are in Israeli jails.
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A handwritten record of prisoners and their standing
The quantity who’ve been taken from Gaza since 7 October, although, is unknown.
“This is the biggest challenge for us,” Mr Zaghari says.
“We’ve received calls from families in Gaza since the beginning of the war, they have no confirmation about who has been arrested. Maybe some, maybe they’ve been killed. Maybe they are in secret jails.”
He claims situations in prisons have worsened since 7 October – as “revenge” for the Hamas assaults.
“Hundreds of people in the jails are suffering from starvation, from disease, unable to shower… most of the prisoners in the jails lose more than 40kg in body weight,” he claims.
Earlier than 7 October, the most important prisoner handover got here after the discharge of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. He was kidnapped in a cross-border tunnel raid and held by Hamas for 5 years.
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The Palestinian Prisoners Society
Greater than 1,000 Palestinians have been freed within the prisoner change, however amongst them, after 22 years in jail, was Yahya Sinwar. He turned Hamas chief in Gaza and is broadly considered the architect of seven October – lastly killed by the Israeli navy in Tal as-Sultan, in Rafah, final October.
Throughout Bethlehem, sat collectively on a terrace within the shade of a tree, we meet a household with three generations who’ve every skilled time in Israeli prisons. Grandfather, son and, now lacking, their eldest son.
It was at two o’clock within the morning, Firas Hassan, 50, tells me that his son Ahmed, 16, was dragged from his mattress. He’d criticised the Israeli occupation on Fb. That was final September. Firas fears for his son in Ktzi’ot jail in southern Israel.
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Ahmed Firas
He is aware of too properly what jail is like. He is spent 15 years out and in of assorted Israeli prisons. He was final launched in April 2024, after two years, this time with no cost.
He’d been arrested at a checkpoint, sat in his automobile, on his method to college to check for his grasp’s diploma.
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As a younger man, he had been a member of the political wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, he advised me, however no extra.
“I was in prison multiple times for a long time because of my opposition to the occupation. The situation in jail is very difficult – especially after 7 October. Before 7 October the situation was stable, after that, everything turned upside down, it was horrible, crazy, scary – the beatings, starvation and decreasing the amount of food compared to before 7 October.”
Picture:
The Palestinian Prisoners Society
Firas says he was crushed on his final day in jail, displaying us {a photograph} – his face swollen and bruised.
Now he needs his son dwelling. His hope: that the ceasefire lasts lengthy sufficient to get his first born again to his household.
Israel says its arrests and detentions adjust to worldwide regulation and the Israeli Jail Service denies all allegations of abuse.
Further reporting by producer Nick Stylianou
