In a deal between Israel and Hamas brokered by Qatar after long negotiations, the first batch of prisoners exchange finally materialised on Friday evening 24 November with the release of 39 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons and 24 captives from Gaza including 11 Israelis, 10 Thai and one Filipino among them.
The deal includes a ceasefire for at least four days, entry of trucks carrying humanitarian, medical and fuel supplies and the total release of 150 Palestinian women and children in exchange for 50 captives taken by Hamas on Saturday 7 October during their raid on Israel.
Among those Palestinians released, 28 prisoners were brought to the occupied West Bank, and 11 others were taken to East Jerusalem welcomed by hundreds of Palestinians.
Aljazeera spoke to one of the prisoners released in Jerusalem, Marah Bakeer, who said that she was informed Friday morning that she was going to be leaving prison while the police carried out a DNA test and told her she would not be allowed to celebrate upon being released.
“I’m a little nervous and stunned; I can’t believe I’m out,” she said.
“The years spent in jail were hard,” Marah said. “But I have a strong personality … and faith in God and my family’s ongoing support helped me overcome difficult times during eight years in detention.”
More than 10,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, including 3,000 who have been detained in the last seven weeks after Saturday 7 October attack with increasing Israeli raids and settler violence across the occupied West Bank.
Israeli captives released by Hamas on Friday appear to be in good physical health, hospital officials have said.
Schneider Children’s hospital said in a statement that four mothers and four children it received were assessed by doctors to be in good physical condition while five other Israeli captives, all elderly women who were taken to Wolfson Hospital in Holon werefeeble and exhausted.
Meanwhile in Gaza, it is the first night in 48 days the people can sleep without fear of death settling down to their first night of rest in seven weeks where they don’t fear being killed in their sleep.
Despite the truce, three Palestinians who were forced to flee the north were killed on Friday, and several were wounded by Israeli forces when they attempted to return home by crossing Israel’s military line separating north and south Gaza.
The World Health Organization says that approximately 100 Palestinians remain at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and that it has no information about the status of the hospital’s director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya and other colleagues who were detained by Israeli forces as he was leaving northern Gaza with a WHO convoy.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths says he hopes the initial four-day pause will lead to a longer-term ceasefire but Israeli leaders including its Prime Minister and defence minister have vowed to continue their military operations after the four day period of ceasefire.
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