Families rejoice as hundreds of Palestinian hostages are freed

Dear friends,

Following the release of six Israeli prisoners by Hamas-led Palestinian resistance forces last Saturday, Israeli authorities delayed the liberation of 620 Palestinian hostages in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Among these hostages were 445 Palestinians abducted from Gaza since October 7, 2023. Starting from last night and ending only a short while ago, Israel finally released these Palestinian hostages. Hamas simultaneously released the bodies of four Israelis.

This exchange marks the seventh batch of the prisoner exchange in the first phase of the existing ceasefire agreement. Israel did not only violate the agreement by arbitrarily delaying the release of these Palestinian prisoners — it has continued to violate the terms of the agreement through the prevention of necessary aid entering into the Gaza Strip, including nutritional food and adequate shelter. In the last week alone, seven babies have died as a result of the severe cold, lack of shelter, and inadequate medical services. These are not accidents; no Palestinian babies would be dying if they still had homes to live in, electricity to run heaters, and safe access to food and healthcare. This is the result of systemic destruction and the prevention of reconstruction by Israel and the United States.

But even in the last day with the liberation of these prisoners, Israel continues to violate the agreement: upon receiving the bodies of the four Israeli captives, Israeli authorities suspended the release of the 46 additional women and children to be returned to Gaza until they could “verify the identities” of these bodies. This was another cruel delay for the hostages and their families, which was only made right a short while ago — hours after the initial release of Palestinian prisoners.

There is so much more to say about the conditions of the Palestinian hostages and the situation to which they are returning in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem — and I promise I’ll get to that below. But despite all of this, I have to say that this is a happy newsletter. Seeing hundreds of Palestinians liberated from what we know has been a man-made hell on earth, reuniting with their families, being greeted and welcomed in the streets of Ramallah and Gaza and elsewhere, stirs the heart immensely. Watching the videos of men flooding out of the Red Cross vehicles to prostrate themselves on the ground, stomp on the clothes Israeli colonial authorities used to try to humiliate them, or running to embrace their families, one can only imagine oneself in their place. How must it feel to breathe freedom after months or years or decades of torture? How must mothers, fathers, siblings, children, spouses, and so on feel upon finally embracing their beloved relatives?

Some of the prisoners who were released over the last day have spent decades in prison. Nael Barghouti, for example, has spent more than two-thirds of his life inside the Israeli prison system — 45 years out of 67. He is the world’s longest-serving prisoner. Though he was released in another prisoner exchange, Israeli colonial forces re-arrested him in 2014, violating the terms of another ceasefire agreement.

This leads us to a point that can’t be left unsaid: the terms of these prisoner exchanges are, of course, fundamentally unequal. Resistance forces return Israeli detainees to the hands of the state, where they face little possibility of being imprisoned once more. In contrast, Palestinian hostages are often released only to be re-abducted by the Israeli state and imprisoned without charge. In Gaza, where the former hostages face less chance of being kidnapped by Israeli forces unless there is another colonial invasion, they are returning to the possibility of death at any moment, starvation, a lack of shelter, and — in some cases — finding out whether their beloved families are still alive.

The conditions of the Palestinian hostages released today speak to the horrific conditions of Israeli torture chambers, about which we have learned more and more with each prisoner exchange. Palestinians released back to Gaza were immediately sent to the hospital, where many were diagnosed as suffering from skin diseases, starvation, and severe torture and neglect. Some Palestinian hostages suffered from acute bone fractures due to beatings and harsh abuse at the hands of their captors. Others show the signs of their abuse through the loss of limbs or movement.

Released Palestinian hostages described the use of starvation as a tool of torture and neglect against them, the systematic denial of water, torture tactics in week-long interrogations, deprivation of adequate clothing, shoes, and blankets, being subjected to skin disease and bugs, sexual abuse and assault, the use of attack dogs against bound hostages, and medical abuse at the hands of the Israeli physicians meant to treat them during their imprisonment. The violence Israel waged against the Palestinian hostages was only limited to the captors’ imaginations — it certainly wasn’t curtailed by domestic Israeli regulations or international law.

One face who was missing from the sea of liberated Palestinian hostages in Gaza this morning was Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, whose release had been rumored by Israeli media a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, his name was not included on the list of Palestinians to be released in the seventh batch of the prisoner exchange and he was not released today. This came as a surprise to other healthcare workers imprisoned with him, who described the abuse and torture they faced in Israeli torture chambers while insisting that they, too, had been told he would be released. It seems that Israeli colonial authorities are still trying to charge the brave doctor as an “unlawful combatant” and are using footage of an interrogation of Dr. Abu Safiya while imprisoned and shackled as “evidence” to provoke and incite the Israeli public in favor of this absurdity. Meanwhile, international pressure to release the courageous doctor continues to grow.

While we acknowledge the limits of the prisoner exchange, we must celebrate the liberation of Palestinians held hostage as bargaining chips inside Israeli torture chambers for months and years. Since October 7, 2023, some 14,300 Palestinians have been abducted and detained from the West Bank alone — this does not include the thousands of Palestinians kidnapped from Gaza and Palestinian citizens of Israel who have been abducted as part of Israel’s intimidation campaign internally.

Today is a day to celebrate. The best way we can do that is by supporting the ability of Palestinians in Gaza to rebuild their lives — by donating directly and generously. See our website for three different ways you can support these efforts.

If you would like to support our work as well, you can donate to the Good Shepherd Collective here.

With love and solidarity,

Lara Kilani