GAZA (PIC)– The Ministry of Captives and Freed Captives in the Palestinian government of Gaza said that the Israeli occupation is still incarcerating 5300 Palestinian captives in its jails after 477 captives were freed earlier this week.
Reyad al-Ashkar Information director at the ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Karim Fadel Younis from 1948-occupied Palestine has become the dean of captives after the release of Nael al-Barghouthi as Younis spent so far 29 years in occupation jails.
He added that the list of long serving captives was reduced from 299 to 126 captives imprisoned since before the Oslo agreement in 1993. While the list of veteran prisoners (those who spent more than 20 years in captivity) was reduced from 145 captives to 51 captives 12 of them are from 1948-occupied Palestine four from Jerusalem 7 from the Gaza Strip and 28 from the West Bank. The list of captives who spent more than 25 years was reduced from 45 captives to 22 captives while the four captives who spent more than 30 years in occupation jails were all released.
He also said that amongst 22 lawmakers and 9 female captives who were not released but there are serious efforts to get the female captives released in the second stage of the prisoner-exchange deal or before that. There however 280 minors still detained as well as five men from Gaza who are detained under the so called “unlawful combatant” law.
The ministry said that the exchange deal was a historic one for the Palestinian people and that it has established for a new era to struggle against occupation but this does not in anyway mean the closure of this file as there are still thousands of Palestinian captives languishing in occupation jails.
