Elderly prisoners welcomed as they step off the bus
Palestinian prisoners continue to be warmly received in Khan Younis.
A number of elderly prisoners are also among those released, including a 70-year-old man.
A few of the prisoners look gaunt, others are stern as they step out of the bus, while some are smiling and flashing the victory sign. A number of the prisoners have worn their shirts inside out in order to cover the messages put on their shirts by Israeli authorities.
Palestinian ex-prisoner says Israel cut electricity, water in Nafha desert prison
Released Palestinian prisoner Amir Abu Radah has told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that he spent a year and a half in Israel’s Nafha desert prison where the authorities cut water and electricity.
“Our conditions in prison were extremely difficult and no one could bear them. For a year and a half we have not had any means of communication and we were isolated from the world,” he added.
Israel ‘assaulted prisoners until moment of release’: Monitor
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office says Israeli authorities “deliberately insulted and assaulted the prisoners until the moment of their release”.
The organisation monitoring the releases added that the conditions the prisoners were released in shows the “extent of the crimes and violations inside the prisons”.
“The effects of torture and oppression were clear on the prisoners’ bodies, which calls for a firm stance to hold the occupation accountable for its crimes,” it said in a statement, calling on the international community to reject a “double standard” as Israel earlier decried conditions of captives released from Gaza.
“Just as the occupation demands the return of its prisoners, our prisoners have the right to freedom and dignity, and denying that is collusion with the executioner,” it said.
‘Humiliation of Palestinian prisoners’ in latest shirts insult not new
The furore surrounding the provocative shirts emblazoned with slogans that Palestinian prisoners were made to wear by the Israeli prison authorities upon their release underscores a long policy of “humiliation,” according to Xavier Abu Eid, a political analyst speaking to Al Jazeera from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
“We’ve been analysing throughout these past weeks the humiliation of Palestinian prisoners,” Abu Eid said. He noted this was “nothing new,” but not only damaged the prisoners but also their families.
Freed prisoners and others in Gaza burned the shirts, which featured a Star of David logo that said “We will not forget or forgive” in Arabic.
Israel has also alleged mistreatment of its captives after one group of three released men emerged emaciated in a previous exchange.
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