A four-day truce has started which will see a total of 50 Israeli hostages released in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The first group of hostages - 13 Israeli women and children held in captivity by Hamas militants in Gaza - were released this evening
At the same time, a total of 39 Palestinians - three for every Israeli - were released from Israeli prisons, with the inmates will handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and gathered at Israel’s Ofer military jail before going home.
Palestinian officials told the list included 24 women and 15 teenage boys.
"After the Red Cross receives the [Palestinian] prisoners, the ones from Jerusalem will go to Jerusalem and the ones from the West Bank will gather in Betunia municipal council where their families will be waiting,” Qadura Fares, Palestinian commissioner for prisoners said.
When news first broke of a ceasefire deal Israel released a list of 300 names in Hebrew of detainees that it said would be eligible for release. Israel has said the Qatari-brokered truce can be extended by a day for every 10 additional Israeli hostages that are released. In tandem there would be the additional release of Palestinians.
On the list are 123 minors, with the youngest aged 14 who was arrested in May on offences listed as “sabotage activity… assault against a police officer and throwing stones”. He is one of five who are 14 years old on the list. The eldest is a 59 year old woman called Hanan Saleh Barghouti who was arrested in September. The Independent understands she is being held in administrative detention, which means a person is held without trial or charge.
Israel has said it refused to include prisoners convicted of murder on the release lists but those convicted of attempted murder, however, could be on the list. Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy accused the Palestinian prisoners due to be released of of having “blood on their hands”, telling Sky News they were “convicted of stabbing and shooting attacks”.
Rights group say that there has been a record high number of arrests of Palestinians since Hamas launched its bloody 7 October attack on southern Israel, abducting approximately 240 people. They say that there has been rise in administrative detentions and in abuse of detainees.
Palestinian rights group Addameer says that since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October they have documented 3,000 cases of arrest in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem (some have since been released). They say there are now 7,000 Palestinians in Israel jails. including around 2,300 are in pre-trial detention. Among that number are 200 child prisoners and 62 women.
The Israeli prisons service said there are more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in the country.
Amnesty international says right now among that are 2,000 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention - without charge or trial - which is a historic high and a significant increase from 1,300 administrative detentions recorded before 7 October. In a report released last earlier this month the rights group said “Administrative detention is one of the key tools through which Israel has enforced its system of apartheid against Palestinians". The report also said that there was mounting evidence of torture, with detainees stripped, beaten and humiliated in recent weeks. Israel vehemently denies these accusations.
But The Independent has documented testimony from Palestinians of Israelis in military uniform beating, stripping, urinating on and attempting to sexual assault Palestinians in the occupied West Bank - an incident the military said it was investigating. It follows other reports of violence that have appeared in videos which the military said “was deplorable and does not comply with the army's orders. ‘
Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that six prisoners and detainees have died in Israeli custody since 7 October. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Two of the four were workers from the Gaza Strip held incommunicado in military detention centres.
In a statement released last month International Committee for the Red Cross has confirmed that Palestinian prisoners have been denied contact with their families and lawyers since 7 October.
Addameer said that around 3,000 workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the attack were detained and then deported them to Gaza through Karem Abu Salem crossing. However, Addameer says the fate of around 700 workers remains unknown.
