RAMALLAH, (PIC)
Israel released on Tuesday evening 30 Palestinians including 15 women and 15 children, within the fifth batch of prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
The Red Cross buses transferred the released prisoners from Israel’s Ofer military prison to the town of Beitonia west of Ramallah in the West Bank and from al-Maskobiyya prison in Occupied Jerusalem directly to their homes in Occupied Jerusalem.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Ramallah to receive the released prisoners, chanting for the resistance and al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, while waving Hamas flags.
Earlier in the day, Israeli police stormed, prior to the release process, the houses of Palestinian families of prisoners in Occupied Jerusalem, threatening and banning them from celebrating the release of their children.
The freed prisoners narrated awful stories of being tortured and severely beaten inside Israeli jails and expressed their gratitude to the resistance for releasing them.
Local sources reported that Israeli forces stormed the town of Al-Issawiya in Occupied Jerusalem, unleashed water cannons, stun grenades and toxic gas towards the citizens and their homes, which led to a fire in one of the houses, trapping its residents inside and causing them to suffocate before they were taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians in Shufat refugee camp in Occupied Jerusalem and Wadi Al-Joze neighborhood in the city, at the time of the release of 20 Jerusalemite prisoners including 7 women and 13 children.
A Palestinian young man was shot, and dozens suffered suffocation as a result of the IOF raiding of neighborhoods adjacent to Ofer military prison.
The youngest detainee in Israeli jails, Ahmed Salaymeh (14 years old), said after his release from Damoun prison, that prisoners were subjected to brutal abuse by Israeli jailers resulting in deaths and injuries among detainees.
He said that prisoners were deprived of their right to go outside of their cells in prison as they were given a short break out of their rooms and cells for few minutes every couple of days. No sufficient food was served in prison, he added.
Zaher Jabareen, the Hamas official of Prisoners and Martyrs Office, said that Hamas has promised to release all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails whose number exceeds 8.000 including 400 children with some children sentenced for over 10 years.
He underlined that there are prisoners who have been detained for more than 44 consecutive years, one thousand detainees serving life sentences and over 3,000 detainees held under the illegal administrative detention with no trials or sentences.
The Palestinian resistance has obliged Israel to accept the exchange deal and to abide by its conditions, he added.
