The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club accused Israel of “systematically abusing” detainees [Getty]
Hamas and Israel completed the fifth prisoner swap under a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal on Saturday, with many of the Palestinians released suffering health problems from mistreatment in Israeli prisons, according to a local rights monitor.
Israeli released 183 Palestinians in exchange for Hamas freeing three Israeli captives held in Gaza.
Of the Palestinians released, seven were hospitalised and the majority were in poor health, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said, accusing Israel of “systematic abuse”.
An AFP correspondent later reported that more than 100 Palestinian prisoners had arrived in Gaza.
The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month comes as negotiations are set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
But senior Hamas official Bassem Naim on Saturday said Israel’s “procrastination and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase… exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse”.
He also described, in an interview with AFP, the condition of the hostages as “acceptable under the difficult circumstances that the Gaza Strip was living”.
Saturday’s swap followed remarks by President Donald Trump suggesting the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip and expel the population, sparking global outrage.
Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were all seized by Hamas during its attack on October 7, 2023, “crossed the border into Israeli territory” on Saturday, the Israeli military said.
With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during the attack now remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Sharabi, 52, and Ben Ami, a 56-year-old dual German citizen, were both abducted from their homes in kibbutz Beeri when fighers stormed the small community near the Gaza border.
Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where gunmen murdered his wife.
Jubilant crowds in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv cheered as they watched live footage of the three hostages, flanked by masked gunmen, brought on stage in Deir el-Balah before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The International Committee of the Red Cross called on “all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility to ensure that future releases are dignified and private”.
In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, relatives and supporters gathered to welcome inmates released by Israel, embracing them and cheering as they stepped off the bus that brought them from nearby Ofer prison.
But Fakhri Barghouti, 71, whose son was among the prisoners, told AFP that Israeli soldiers had stormed his home and beaten him, warning him not to celebrate his son’s release.
“They entered after midnight, smashed everything, took me into a side room, and beat me before leaving”, Barghouti told AFP.
“I was taken to the hospital, where it was found that I had a broken rib.”
The Israeli military said in a statement it had “conveyed messages that celebrations and processions in support of terrorism are prohibited during the release of the terrorists”, but did not give an immediate response when asked about Barghouti’s allegations.
‘Slow killing’
Israel’s prison service said that “183 terrorists… were released” to the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group and the Palestinian Red Crescent said that seven of them had been admitted to hospital in the West Bank.
“All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care… as a result of the brutality they were subjected” to in jail, said the advocacy group.
Hamas in a statement accused Israel of undertaking a “policy of… the slow killing of prisoners”.
The Palestinian group has so far freed 21 hostages, including 16 Israelis in exchange for hundreds of mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Five Thai hostages freed last week from Gaza were discharged on Saturday from a hospital in central Israel, where they had been treated since their release, and flew back to their home country.
The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 17 more hostages during the remainder of the 42-day first phase.
Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were set to begin on Monday, but were delayed by the Israeli prime minister until after his meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Netanyahu’s office instructed an Israeli delegation to head to Doha for further talks after Saturday’s swap. Israeli media reported that intensive talks won’t begin until after the cabinet meets on Monday to agree its negotiating position.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 48,181 Palestinians, the majority civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
