Hamas and Israel Exchange Captives, Detainees Before Gaza Summit

Celebrations in Israel as living captives held by Hamas freed. Israel’s release of about 2,000 Palestinians under way.

Hamas and Israel have completed a prisoner exchange deal under a ceasefire agreement that saw the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails and 20 Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip.

Cheers broke out in Israel early on Monday, as television channels announced that the first lot of seven captives had been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Israeli military later confirmed that 13 more captives taken from Israel during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 were also transferred.

Later on Monday, Hamas’s military wing said it also planned to hand over the bodies of four dead captives later in the day.

The released Palestinians include some 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge, as well as 250 held in Israeli prisons. The news of the release was bittersweet for the loved ones of some freed prisoners, as 154 of them were forced into exile.

We Were Tortured

In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, footage showed dozens of freed Palestinian detainees getting off buses near Nasser Hospital, surrounded by crowds of cheering onlookers.

“Medical teams are on standby at the hospital to examine those released after what officials described as years of harsh and degrading conditions in Israeli prisons,” reported Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from the scene.

One freed prisoner, Shadi Abu Seed, said he faced years of abuse while in Israeli custody.

“I went hungry for the past two years,” he said upon being released. “I swear to God, they didn’t feed us. They kept us naked. They beat us while we were naked day and night. We were tortured.”

Among those waiting for the freed detainees was Yasser Abu Azzoum, whose 23-year-old son Mohammed was set to be released under the deal.

He told Al Jazeera the feeling was “indescribable”.

“I’m not able to speak properly because I am overwhelmed with joy,” he said.

Jubilant crowds also greeted a separate group of Palestinian prisoners freed in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

‘Looks Great, Although Thin And Pale’

In Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that all 20 living captives were back in Israeli territory.

Families of Israeli hostages celebrating news of their release.

It identified the captives released in the first group as Guy Gilboa Dalal, 24, Eitan Mor, 25, Matan Angrest, 22, Alon Ohel, 24, Gali and Ziv Berman, both 28, and Omri Miran, 48.

It named the 13 captives freed later as Elkana Bohbot, 36, Rom Braslavski, 21, Nimrod Cohen, 21, Evyatar David, 24, Maxim Herkin, 37, Eitan Horn, 39, Segev Kalfon, 27, Bar Kuperstein, 23, Yosef Haim Ohana, 25, Avinatan Or, 32, Matan Zangauker, 25 and David and Ariel Cunio, 35 and 28.

Families were reunited with their loved ones before the released captives were flown to hospitals for medical treatment.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, on the first release, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said the captives were “reported to be in reasonable condition, walking without needing medical assistance”.

Ohel’s parents told The Times of Israel that their son “looks amazing” and is “standing on his own two feet”, while Mor’s mother told Ynet News that her son “looks great, although thin and pale”.

Culled from Al Jazeera