Rejoicing in Palestinian areas
Released prisoners are greeted with Hamas flags
November 26, 2023, 5:38 a.m
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For every hostage released from captivity in the Gaza Strip, Israel releases three Palestinian prisoners from its own prisons. 39 women and minors will be taken to the Palestinian territories on Saturday. Hamas flags fly during the celebrations.
The 39 Palestinians released from prison by Israel in exchange for 13 hostages have been greeted with cheers as they return to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In a video that the newspaper “The Times of Israel” linked, crowds of people can be seen chanting and the green flags of the Islamist Hamas are being waved.
According to Palestinian media, those released include six women and 33 male youths under the age of 19. They were released on Saturday evening as part of an agreement between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. The deal stipulates that for every Israeli hostage released, three female or minor Palestinians will be released from Israeli prisons.
The released prisoners were all convicted or charged with terrorist offenses, said Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman. The fact that those released were celebrated under the Hamas banner shows what kind of people they are. “It’s a shame that we are releasing them,” said the army spokesman.
Soldiers take action against revelers in Jerusalem
The Emirate of Qatar, together with Egypt and the USA, had brokered a four-day ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas and the exchange of 50 civilian hostages for the Palestinian prisoners. On Saturday evening, dozens waited for release outside an Israeli prison north of Jerusalem. According to Palestinian information, Israeli soldiers used tear gas and rubber bullets against those waiting. According to paramedics, four people were injured.
Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has ordered celebrations for the freedmen to be prevented, the Times of Israel reported. According to the newspaper, among those released is a 38-year-old who exploded a gas bottle in her car at a checkpoint in the West Bank in 2015, injuring a police officer. She was sentenced to eleven years in prison. Other released Palestinians were imprisoned for, among other things, knife attacks or terrorist attacks with vehicles, said army spokesman Spielman. They are all criminals.