Palestinian prisoners released from jail, but not free to celebrate

Though Barghouti, 71, shed tears of joy at seeing his son, he was also in physical pain.

The night before, Israeli forces stormed his family home in the occupied West Bank village of Kobar, warning him not to celebrate his son's release and assaulting him, he said.

"They entered after midnight, smashed everything, took me into a side room and beat me before leaving," Barghouti told AFP.

"I was taken to the hospital, where they found that I had a broken rib."

Israeli forces conducted several raids on the family homes of prisoners about to be released, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group.

The military said in a statement it had "conveyed messages that celebrations and processions in support of terrorism are prohibited during the release of the terrorists", but did not give an immediate response when asked about Fakhri Barghouti's allegations.

Shadi Barghouti, 47, had been imprisoned since 2003 and was serving a 27-year sentence for weapons possession, membership in an illegal organisation and complicity in murder, according to Israel's justice ministry.

In total, 183 Palestinians were released on Saturday in exchange for three Israelis held in Gaza since the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Of those released, 41 returned to the West Bank city of Ramallah, four were released in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, 131 were sent to Gaza and seven were deported to Egypt.
'Long live the resistance'
In Ramallah, a crowd of hundreds came to see the released prisoners, waving Palestinian flags, wearing keffiyeh scarves and clapping as the bus with the inmates approached.

The police cordon struggled to keep the crowd away from the prisoners who stepped off the bus one by one, greeted by cheers and chants.

Further back, women and children standing on the steps of the building where the prisoners were to undergo health checks struggled to keep their composure, fighting back tears as they caught glimpses of their loved ones.

At the front, a group of young men called to their friend as they recognised him.

Shadi Barghouti, at first protected from the crowd by a wall of relatives, eventually began to talk to the crowd and reporters while hoisted on his relatives' shoulders.

"We always dreamed that this would happen, that one day the prison director would be forced to open the gates," he said, still in a grey prison tracksuit.

"Long live the resistance!" he shouted as he shook hands with those around him.

His father, Fakhri Barghouti, was himself released in a similar prisoner exchange, when in 2011 Israel freed 1,027 Palestinians in exchange for the return of its soldier Gilad Shalit.

Fakhri Barghouti had been serving a life sentence for participating in the killing of an Israeli soldier, among other charges.
'Brutality'
One prisoner was helped off the bus in the arms of a medic while another held his oxygen bottle.

Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, said that seven of the freed prisoners were transferred to hospital.

"All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care, treatment and examinations as a result of the brutality they were subjected to during the past months," he added.

In the crowd, Abbas al-Sharbati was waiting with relatives for his cousin Yasser al-Sharbati's release.

Yasser, 53, was arrested in 2003 and is set to meet his grown-up children who were babies at the time of his arrest, including his 23-year-old daughter who is now married.

Like most freed prisoners' relatives, Yasser's family was also told not to celebrate his return.

"The occupation warned us not to display any signs of celebration when welcoming the prisoner," Abbas al-Sharbati said.

"We have informed all our family members, children, and young men that we will avoid any festivities to ensure everyone's safety. We don't want any problems for Yasser or for us."

Earlier, Israeli soldiers had distributed fliers in the villages of the released prisoners, warning in Arabic that "We will visit you at every celebration of the release of prisoners, whatever it may be. You have been warned".