Israel frees 200 Palestinian prisoners in second ceasefire

Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday after exchanging four soldiers held hostage by Hamas. Dozens of prisoners were sentenced to life in Israeli prisons for their attacks on Israelis.

The prisoners were released from Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah and another facility near Beersheba in southern Israel, the Israeli prisons said in a statement.

Israelis view them as terrorists, while many Palestinians view them as legitimate opponents of Israeli rule or victims of decades of Israeli occupation.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the Ramallah municipal building to welcome the prisoners home, urging them to hold their loved ones as they exited the Red Cross buses transporting the prisoners.

Freed prisoners, still wearing gray uniforms that looked like they had been released by the Israeli prison authorities, were held on the shoulders of the chanting crowd.

“We will leave our prison, but the price is high,” Mohammed Arda, one of the freed prisoners, told reporters as his family and friends gathered around him. “I’m thinking about the families of the prisoners we’ve lost in the last year and a half.”

On Sunday, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and minors. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities are freeing many people accused of serious crimes, including the killing of Israeli civilians in militant attacks.

According to the Israeli government, Mr. Arda – a Palestinian Islamic Jihad activist – was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder and planting an explosive device, among other crimes. In the year He was one of six prisoners who briefly escaped from an Israeli prison in 2021, shocking Israelis and Palestinians alike, before being captured.

More than 1,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are to be released as part of the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Hamas promises to release 33 hostages; Israeli officials said 97 had taken place in Gaza since the deal took effect last Sunday.

About 120 of the Palestinian prisoners freed on Saturday were serving life sentences for participating in attacks on Israelis, according to detailed information provided by the Hamas-affiliated Office of Prisoners. According to the agreement, about 70 of them will be deported from the Hamas-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip under Israeli control or to countries outside Egypt.

Those released on Saturday include Mohammed Odeh, Wael Qasim and Wissam Abbasi, who were arrested in 2002 in connection with the heavy bombing of Israelis in densely populated civilian areas. All three were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the attack.

The group’s most horrific attack – at Hebrew University in Jerusalem – killed nine people, including five Americans.

According to the agreement, the three men will all be deported and will never be allowed to return to Jerusalem.