The Awad family’s daughters were busy getting dressed on Saturday evening at their home in Qalandiya, on the West Bank side of the infamous checkpoint. Hair was curled and eyeliner applied; All four chose black and white outfits to match their Palestinian looks keffiyeh scarves. The celebration commemorated the unexpected release of their older sister Noorhan, 24, from prison in Israel. He was imprisoned eight years ago; The youngest Mayar, 10 years old, does not remember him.
Community centers were decorated with Palestinian flags and posters of Noorhan and two other young people in the neighborhood. “A lot has changed since Noorhan was last home,” said his mother, Sumaya. “We’re very excited. I don’t want to get our hopes up too much.”
Noorhan is one of 42 women and children expected to be released from Israeli prisons on Saturday evening, the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The world was shocked on Friday when nine-year-old Ohad Munder, one of 13 Israeli children and women released under the agreement seven weeks after being taken hostage from their homes during Hamas rule, ran into the arms of her father. Attack on Israel on October 7. At the Betunia checkpoint next to the notorious Ofer prison in Ramallah, Palestinian families repeated similar scenes a few hours later: Mothers returned home earlier than anyone expected, crying as they held their daughters.
A total of 39 Palestinians were released from a list of 300 potential candidates on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, the nine Israeli children were to be released into the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) before being flown by helicopters to their surviving family members at Gaza’s Rafah crossing point with Egypt. Due to the breakdown of the agreement, both Israel and the Palestinian territories were still waiting until late at night.
Hamas said on its Telegram channel at 18:30 (16:30 GMT) that it was delaying the release of the second group of Israeli hostages because aid trucks were not allowed by Israeli forces to enter the northern half of the Gaza Strip. With an unprecedented war for 50 days. Hamas also claimed that Israel did not comply with agreed-upon criteria for releasing Palestinian detainees in order of what they called “seniority.”
Outside Ofer prison in Ramallah, Israeli forces used tear gas to disperse crowds waiting for buses carrying released prisoners to arrive; In a sign of how quickly the ceasefire can be derailed, at least one man and a 17-year-old boy were injured by live fire.
Many in Qalandia worried that the delay could mean a resumption of fighting in Gaza and the collapse of the agreement, dashing their hopes of seeing their loved ones again.
Nearly 15,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes. Approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed on October 7. The death toll is already the worst in 75 years of conflict.
The agreement stipulates that after an initial four-day ceasefire, fighting will be paused for another day for every 10 hostages returning home from Gaza, for a total of up to 10 days. We could see 50 Israelis released in exchange for three times as many Palestinians.
For Palestinians, the mood was jubilant, at least before Saturday’s long wait. “Although every family suffers under Israeli occupation, this is a victory for the entire Palestinian people,” said Rasmi Dagadeen, 25, of Hebron, who is awaiting the possible release of her 17-year-old cousin Younis Hawameh. He was imprisoned for this.
“It is wrong to imprison minors. They arrested him in vain, took him away from his job,” Dagadeen said.
The Palestinian Prisoners Association says 7,200 prisoners are being held in Israel, including 88 women and 250 under the age of 18. The plight of prisoners is a fundamental problem for Palestinians: According to a recent UN report, nearly one million of the population of 5 million have spent time in Israeli prisons. Israel is the only developed country that regularly prosecutes minors (Palestinians, not Israelis). military courts.
NGO Children’s Defense International said: “Each year, 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, are detained and tried in the Israeli military court system.”
Israel has refused to release anyone convicted of murder. Most of the prisoners are detained for throwing stones, damaging property or contacting “enemy” organisations. Many are in administrative detention, which allows preventive detention due to secret evidence and a six-month extendable prison sentence without charge or trial.
Noorhan Awad was 16 when she was arrested for using scissors to stab an Israeli outside Jerusalem’s Old City in 2015; The man suffered moderate injuries. He initially denied the charges but later pleaded guilty, like many Palestinians advised by lawyers. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, which was later reduced to 10.
“We are not a political family. I don’t think Noorhan did this, but she is a strong-willed girl,” Sumaya said. “He earned his law degree in prison. I hope the future will be brighter.”
Only one person was allowed to pick up each prisoner released after Friday night’s chaotic scenes. Sumaya’s uncle had been waiting in front of the Betunia checkpoint since 13:00; At 8 p.m., even as men and women began to fill separate party rooms at the community center in Qalandiya, she was still there. Young children carrying toy guns and rifles ran outside on the street.
Yasmeen Awad, 39, a member of the extended family, said: “We could be here until the morning. “After eight years, one night is nothing.”