Tears and cheers in West Bank and Gaza as nearly 2,000 Palestinians are released from Israeli prisons

By Tim Lister, Abeer Salman, Nada Bashir, Eyad Kourdi, CNN

(CNN) — Israel freed almost 2,000 Palestinians from its jails on Monday as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, prompting emotional scenes of families reunited with loved ones, some of whom had spent decades behind bars.

More than 1,700 of those released were detainees who had been held without charge by Israeli forces in Gaza since the start of the war, which began with the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Another 250 prisoners had been serving long sentences for convictions in serious crimes, including murder. Some alleged they had been regularly beaten while in Israeli prisons after their release on Monday.

By late Monday, nearly 40 buses carrying the detainees moved slowly through large crowds at the Nasser medical complex in southern Gaza.

The convoy was preceded by pick-up trucks carrying dozens of armed, masked men, some of them shooting in the air in celebration.

Some of the detainees leaned out of windows, flashing victory signs, waving and holding the Palestinian flag. Others, clad in gray prison uniforms, climbed onto the roofs of buses to wave at the crowds and unfurl the Hamas flag.

A young boy, in tears, was hoisted up to a window to be embraced by one of the detainees.

Ninety-six of the long-term Palestinian prisoners convicted by Israeli courts were released into the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Another 154 prisoners were deported to Egypt, most of them convicted of violent offenses including murder.

Some had been in Israeli jails for more than two decades.

Those freed Monday included members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Palestinian factions, but Israel refused to release several prominent prisoners, including the popular Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti. Many Palestinians view Barghouti as their own Nelson Mandela, believing only he can unite a disjointed society and lead the Palestinians to freedom.

However, Mahmoud Qawasmeh, a senior Hamas member arrested for the second time in 2024, was set to be released as part of the deal. Also among those scheduled for release was Muhammad Zakarneh, convicted of planning the killing of a taxi driver in 2009, and Muhammad Abu al-Rub, convicted of carrying out a fatal stabbing attack in 2017.

A large crowd gathered in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where families had gathered to be reunited with the former prisoners. Ahead of the release, Israeli authorities dropped leaflets in the West Bank warning against celebrations.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that several of the prisoners who were released in Ramallah had been beaten by Israeli security personnel before boarding buses.

Some had sustained rib fractures and eye trauma, said PRCS spokesman Hassan Silwadi. The Israel Prison Service said in response that it was not aware of the claims described, and told CNN that “to the best of our knowledge, no such incidents occurred under IPS responsibility.”

Meanwhile, some of the Palestinian prisoners released claimed they suffered abuse while serving their sentences.

“It was so difficult. No rational human can imagine what they would see in prison,” Ahmed Awad, who was serving three life sentences for murder, told CNN. “You can’t imagine the way they deal with prisoners. They humiliated us and beat us daily without any reason.”

“There was no treatment, we couldn’t even take painkillers,” another released prisoner, 45-year-old Faisal Mahmood Abdullah Al Khaleefi, told CNN in Ramallah. Al Khaleefi had been convicted of security offenses, weapons offenses, and more. “As for doctors, the one who was treating us also beat us. The first one to beat (us) was the doctor.”

He also alleged that prison authorities “left us in the sun. They left us on the gravel 12-hours.”

“From time to time they would force us to stand up, beat us or throw us on our cellmates,” said Al Khaleefi, who had been imprisoned for 10 years.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Monday that “many prisoners, especially those from Gaza, showed clear signs of physical and psychological torture, and there were documented cases of abuse even until the last moments of their release.”

CNN has reached out to the Israeli prison authorities for a response to the allegations.

Human rights groups have often alleged abuse of Palestinian inmates at Israeli jails. A CNN investigation last year spoke to three Israeli whistleblowers who worked at one detention camp who recounted beatings and other mistreatment.

In response, the Israeli military said it “ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody.”

The detainees returning to Gaza face an uncertain future. Much of the territory’s infrastructure is destroyed, and hospitals overwhelmed. Tens of thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed.

Hamas’ internal security forces have been engaged in clashes with several clans over the past few days, as the group tries to reassert itself across Gaza.

It’s unknown when an international stabilization force and a new police force will deploy in the enclave, in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, or if Hamas will disarm.

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