Who Are the Palestinian Prisoners Israel Released on Friday?

Thirty-nine Palestinian women and children are expected to be released from Israeli jails on Friday during a pause in fighting.

Relatives and supporters of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons stage a sit-in in front of the Red Cross in the West Bank city of Ramallah on November 21, 2023, calling for a deal to be brokered between Israel and Hamas for their release.

This image from November 21 shows relatives and supporters of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons staging a sit-in outside the Red Cross in Ramallah in the West Bank [Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP]

24 Nov 2023

After seven weeks of war, the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas began on Friday morning. Under this truce, 39 Palestinian women and children were released on Friday.

Here is what’s known about those released and those who might be released in the coming days.

Who were the prisoners released on Friday?

Of the 39 Palestinians released by Israel, 17 are minors.

They are:

Yousef Mohammad Mustafa Ata from Ramallah

Qusai Hani Ali Ahmad from Bethlehem

Jibreel Ghassan Ismail Jibreel from Qalqilya

Mohammad Ahmad Suleiman Abu Rajab from al-Khalil

Ahmad Nu’man Ahmad Abu Na’im from Ramallah

Baraa Bilal Mahmoud Rabee from al-Khalil

Aban Iyad Mohammad Said Hammad from Qalqilya

Moataz Hatem Moussa Abu Aram from al-Khalil

Iyad Abdul Qader Mohammad Khateeb from Jerusalem

Hazma Laith Khalil Othman Othman from Ramallah

Mohammad Mahmoud Ayoub Dar Darwish from Ramallah

Jamal Khalil Jamal Barahmeh from Areeha

Jamal Yousef Jamal Abu Hamdan from Nablus

Mohammad Anis Saleem Tarabi from Nablus

Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahman Suleiman Rizq from Jerusalem

Zeina Raed Abdou from Jerusalem

Noor Mohammad Hafez al-Tahir from Nablus

Zeina and Noor are girls, the others are boys.

The remaining 22 of the Palestinians released on Friday are women. They are:

Rawan Nafez Mohammad Abu Matar from Ramallah

Marah Joudat Moussa Bakeer from Jerusalem

Malak Mohammad Yousef Suleiman from Jerusalem

Amani Khaled Nu’man Hasheem from Jerusalem

Nihaya Khader Hussein Sawan from Jerusalem

Fayrouz Fayez Mahmoud al-Baw from Jerusalem

Tahreer Adnan Mohammad Abu Suriya from Nablus

Falasteen Fareed Abdul Latif Najm from Nablus

Walaa Khaled Fawzi Tanja from Tulkarem

Maryam Khaled Abdul Majid Arafat from Nablus

Asil Muneer Ibrahim al-Tayti from Nablus

Azhar Thaer Bakr Assaf from Jerusalem

Raghd Nashat Salah al-Fanni from Tulkarem

Fatima Nu’man Ali Badr from Jerusalem

Rawda Moussa Abdul Qader Abu Ujaima from Bethlehem

Sara Ayman Abdul Aziz Abdullah al-Suweisa from Nablus

Fatima Ismail Abdul Rahman Shahin from Bethlehem

Samira Abdul Harbawi from Jerusalem

Samah Bilal Abdul Rahman Souf from Qalqilya

Fatima Bakr Moussa Abu Shalal from Nablus

Hanan Saleh Abdullah al-Barghouthi from Ramallah

Fatima Nasr Mohammad Amarnah from Jenin

When and how were they released?

They were transferred from Israeli prisons to the Israel-controlled Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank in the early evening.

At 8pm local time (18:00 GMT), they were released from Ofer in International Committee of the Red Cross buses.

Who might be released next?

Israel has agreed to release 150 Palestinian women and children prisoners from its jails in exchange for Hamas releasing 50 of the women and children taken captive during the October 7 attack.

But the Israeli Ministry of Justice presented a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners who it is considering for release. It is unclear whether this might be an offer for a potential second phase of exchanges since the deal allows for the extension of a pause in fighting by one day for every 10 additional captives Hamas releases.

The list of 300 comprises 33 women. The majority of the rest of the names are of boys aged 16-18. However, there are also boys as young as 14 on the list.

Most of the prisoners on the list were arrested between 2021 and 2023. The prisoners arrested in 2023 were taken before October 7.

However, it also includes individuals like Shorouq Dwayyat, who was arrested in 2015 and is serving the ninth year of her 16-year sentence. Dwayyat is currently serving the longest sentence among Palestinian female prisoners in Israeli jails.

She was 18 when she was arrested and held in the Damon prison in Haifa, accused of stabbing an Israeli settler with a knife. Her family, anxiously anticipating her release, denies these accusations. “Shorouq is delicate and cannot harm an animal,” her father, Salah Dwayyat, told Al Jazeera at the time.

Why are they in prison?

Like Dwayyat, many other prisoners have been convicted of crimes including carrying and manufacturing knives and daggers. Other common offences detailed in Israel’s list include:

threatening security

illegally entering Israel without a permit

throwing stones

supporting terrorism

associating with hostile/unknown organisations.

“The main alleged crime for these detentions is stone-throwing, which can carry a 20-year sentence in prison for Palestinian children,” said a report published in July by children’s rights organisation, Save the Children.

Israeli publication Haaretz reported that Israel has refused to release people convicted of murder but those convicted of attempted murder could be released.

Where will the Palestinian prisoners go after their release?

Under the deal, Palestinian prisoners will be taken from two Israeli prisons southeast of Haifa, namely Damon and Megiddo. They will then be taken to Israel’s military Ofer prison.

There, they will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross and after they are received, “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”, added Fares.

Israel has barred celebrations in Palestinian communities over the return of prisoners.

How many Palestinian prisoners are in Israeli jails?

There are 19 prisons within Israel and one inside the occupied West Bank holding Palestinian prisoners.

Before October 7, there were about 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli custody. However, following the Hamas attack of October 7, the number of Palestinians arrested skyrocketed and 3,000 more were arrested.

Of those arrested after October 7, 37 are journalists. Palestinian prisoner support and human rights association Addameer reported that most of these journalists were subjected to administrative detention, which means they are held indefinitely behind bars without facing trial or charges.

Addameer also reported that the detainees are subjected to physical violence and medical negligence in prisons. The report cited an example of a prisoner who suffers from blood disease and asthma. The prisoner was assaulted, resulting in wounds and bruises on his head and eyes. The association reported that this prisoner has lost 10kg since his arrest.

Israeli soldiers detain blindfolded Palestinian men in a military truck while watching Palestinians (not pictured) fleeing the fighting in war-torn Gaza walk by on a road in the Zeitoun district of the southern part of the Gaza Strip on November 19, 2023.

Some Palestinian prisoners have been in Israeli jails for more than 30 years, since before the Oslo Accords were signed. The term “deans of prisoners” is sometimes locally used to refer to them, reported Samidoun, an international Palestinian prisoner solidarity network.

At least 700 Palestinian children under the age of 18 from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted every year through Israeli military courts after being arrested, interrogated and detained by the Israeli army.

Children in Israeli detention often suffer physical, psychological and sexual abuse, and some are deprived of food, water and sleep, according to Save the Children.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES