Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, including at least two veteran Hamas operatives from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in exchange for three Israeli hostages who had been held in Gaza.
Of those prisoners freed on Saturday, 138 were from Gaza, including 111 arrested after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that ignited the 15-month war in Gaza.
Under the cease-fire deal, Israel committed to release more than 1,000 Gazans — including many detained during the Israeli ground invasion of the territory —- on the condition that they had not participated in the Oct. 7 attack.
But some of the most prominent prisoners released on Saturday were from the West Bank, including some who had been serving life sentences. Palestinians often view the prisoners as freedom fighters against Israeli occupation.
Huge crowds of people greeted the arrival of a Red Cross bus carrying freed prisoners in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Many appeared frail and thin, wearing only gray jumpsuits bearing the logo of the Prisons Authority. Some wore worn-out plastic slippers while others were barefoot.
Hours earlier, Israeli forces raided the family homes of at least four of the men released to the West Bank before they got there, warning their relatives not to celebrate their freedom.
One of the prisoners whose family home was raided was Jamal Tawil, a senior Hamas operative in the West Bank, who had been imprisoned multiple times over recent decades on charges of planning bombings and other attacks against Israel.
He was taken directly to a hospital in Ramallah after his release.
“He is struggling to breathe and is very weak,” said his daughter, Bushra Tawil, a journalist and activist who was released in an earlier exchange last month. “I was shocked when I saw him — he had been beaten on the head and other parts of his body until the very last moments before his release.”
She said her family had been threatened with arrest if they publicly celebrated his return.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had held discussions in recent days with relatives of the returning prisoners, “clarifying the ban on celebrations” at their arrivals. The military statement said patrols had removed Hamas flags and other unspecified signs of preparations for the prisoners’ returns.
For years, Israeli security services have discouraged or broken up family events celebrating the release of militants, saying they prompt unrest and glorify terrorism. Israel has been particularly assertive in suppressing celebrations for detainees released under the current cease-fire deal, fearing that they may help bolster the popularity of Hamas.
Another released Hamas militant, Iyad Abu Shkhaydem, had been serving 18 life sentences, in part for planning the bombings of two buses in the central Israel city of Beersheba that killed 16 people in 2004, for which he was sentenced by a military court.
Israeli forces had nicknamed him “the engineer” of a Hamas cell in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to local media reports. He was arrested after a 40-day manhunt.
Mr. Abu Shekhaydam, 50, who is married with four children, completed his high school education and earned a degree in psychology while in prison, according to the Prisoners Association, a rights group that provides legal support for Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.
The home of Shadi Barghouti, another prisoner released on Saturday, was also raided, according to family members. Mr. Barghouti was serving a 27-year sentence for planning or participating in attacks, according to the Israeli Justice Ministry.
The Barghoutis, father and son, had overlapped in prison. The elder was convicted in the 1978 killing of an Israeli, but released in a 2011 prisoner deal with Hamas. Fakhri Barghouti was waiting at the Ramallah Cultural Palace when his son arrived on Saturday — the first time they had met outside of prison since 1978. They were both tearful, but smiling, as Shadi Barghouti knelt upon seeing his father.
Seven of the released prisoners who arrived in Ramallah were taken to the local hospitals, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Islam Hamad, from Nablus, had to be carried by family members. His mother burst into tears when she saw his condition, including an injured hand. She was too overwhelmed to speak to a reporter.
