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Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners

Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners
A crowd welcomes Palestinians formerly jailed by Israel as they arrive in a Red Cross convoy to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Jan. 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 02 February 2025

Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners

Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners
  • During Saturday’s fourth prisoner release since the January 19 Gaza ceasefire began, an eager crowd gathered to see 25 Palestinian prisoners released in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
  • A total of 183 prisoners, almost all Palestinians except for one Egyptian, were released on Saturday

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Stepping off a bus with two dozen other released Palestinian prisoners on Saturday after 23 years imprisonment in Israel, Ata Abdelghani had more than his freedom to look forward to.
The 55-year-old was also to meet his twin sons, Zain and Zaid, for the first time.
The encounter was made possible by his release in an ongoing hostage-prisoner exchange as part of a January ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip agreed by Israel and Hamas.
The twins, now 10 years old, were conceived while Abdelghani was incarcerated after his sperm was smuggled out of his prison.
He had been serving a life sentence on a number of counts including murder, according to a list released by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in Ramallah.
“These children are the ambassadors of freedom, the future generation,†Abdelghani said as he hugged the boys tightly.

During Saturday’s fourth prisoner release since the January 19 Gaza ceasefire began, an eager crowd gathered to see 25 Palestinian prisoners released in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Wearing grey prison tracksuits and with their heads shaved, the prisoners looked weary as they arrived, but many were hoisted onto people’s shoulders by the crowd and carried along in a heroes’ welcome.
“It’s hard to describe in words,†Abdelghani said.
“My thoughts are scattered. I need a great deal of composure to control myself, to steady my nerves, to absorb this overwhelming moment.â€
He added that the situation in prison had been “difficult, tragic.â€
A total of 183 prisoners, almost all Palestinians except for one Egyptian, were released on Saturday.
Seven serving life sentences and an Egyptian were deported to Egypt, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. Of the remainder, 150 were sent to Gaza.

The prisoners were released in exchange for three Israelis taken hostage during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Riad Marshoud, another freed prisoner, cried when he hugged his two sons, who were boys when he was jailed 22 years ago.
After hugging them tightly, he sat on a chair while relatives made video calls to cousins and uncles who had not been able to come to see him released.
One relative was in Jordan and another in the United Arab Emirates.
All tried to catch a glimpse of the dazed and tired but elated Marshoud as he received congratulations.
“The first moment when the bus doors opened and I stepped out was very difficult — it’s hard to describe it in mere words,†he told the crowd.
The dense throng that had come to see Marshoud parted when his father arrived wearing a traditional keffiyeh around his head.
The father greeted his son with tearful kisses.
Marshoud had been jailed on charges of membership of an illegal organization, shooting and conspiracy to commit murder, according to Israel’s justice ministry.
Shortly after the families in Ramallah took their released relatives home, three busloads of prisoners arrived in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, an AFP journalist reported.
The 150 prisoners were greeted as they got off the bus by chants from the crowd — “In blood and spirit, we shall redeem you, prisoner!“


British military says ship ablaze after being struck off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden

British military says ship ablaze after being struck off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden
Updated 17 sec ago

British military says ship ablaze after being struck off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden

British military says ship ablaze after being struck off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden
  • The British military says a ship caught fire in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen after being struck by a projectile
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A ship caught fire Saturday in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen after being struck by a projectile, the British military said.
The incident comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking ships through the Red Sea corridor. However, the rebels did not immediately claim the attack, though it can take them hours or even days to do so.
The maritime security firm Ambrey described the ship as a tanker that was “en route from Sohar, Oman, to Djibouti.†It said radio traffic suggested the crew was preparing to abandon ship and a search-and-rescue effort was underway.

Two wounded in attack on office of Iraqi parliamentary candidate

Two wounded in attack on office of Iraqi parliamentary candidate
Updated 21 min 43 sec ago

Two wounded in attack on office of Iraqi parliamentary candidate

Two wounded in attack on office of Iraqi parliamentary candidate
  • Armed gunmen opened fire early Saturday on the office of an Iraqi parliamentary candidate south of Baghdad, wounding two bodyguards, a security source said

BAGHDAD: Armed gunmen opened fire early Saturday on the office of an Iraqi parliamentary candidate south of Baghdad, wounding two bodyguards, a security source said.
The attack on Sunni Muslim politician Muthanna Al-Azzawi’s office comes days after a bomb killed another candidate in the November 11 elections for the Shiite-majority parliament.
The gunmen fled after the attack in Yusufiyah, 25 kilometers (16 miles) south of the capital, the source told AFP.
Azzawi is a member of the Baghdad provincial council and belongs to the “Azem Alliance,†a centrist Sunni coalition led by Muthanna Al-Samarrai.
The candidate “firmly condemned the cowardly attack,†saying: “These acts will not stop us from continuing to serve our people.â€
“The attackers will be punished for their actions sooner or later,†Azzawi added on his Facebook page.
A bomb killed fellow Baghdad provincial council member and election candidate Safaa Al-Mashhadani on Wednesday when it exploded under his car north of the city.
It also wounded three of his bodyguards.
Mashhadani was running with the Sovereignty Alliance, one of Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim coalitions, led by businessman Khamis Al-Khanjar and parliament speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani.
The coalition condemned the “cowardly crime,†calling it “an extension of the approach of exclusion, targeting and treachery pursued by the forces of uncontrolled weapons and terrorism, all of which seek to silence free national voices.â€
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the attack on Mashhadani and called for the perpetrators’ arrests.
The majority of Iraq’s 329 lawmakers represent Shiite parties aligned with neighboring Iran.
The upcoming elections are the sixth since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled longtime ruler Saddam Hussein.
In Iraq, the role of prime minister traditionally goes to a Shiite and the presidency to a Kurd, while the speaker of parliament is usually Sunni.


Gaza civil defense says 9 killed Friday when Israeli forces fired at bus

Gaza civil defense says 9 killed Friday when Israeli forces fired at bus
Updated 18 October 2025

Gaza civil defense says 9 killed Friday when Israeli forces fired at bus

Gaza civil defense says 9 killed Friday when Israeli forces fired at bus
  • aza’s civil defense agency said that Israeli forces killed nine people in an attack on a bus Friday, while the military stated it had fired at a vehicle that crossed the so-called “yellow line“

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said that Israeli forces killed nine people in an attack on a bus Friday, while the military stated it had fired at a vehicle that crossed the so-called “yellow line.â€
“Civil defense crews were able to recover nine bodies following the Israeli occupation’s targeting of a bus carrying displaced persons east of the Zeitun neighborhood yesterday,†Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the agency, which operates under Hamas authority, told AFP on Saturday.


UN aid chief foresees ‘massive job’ ahead on tour of ruined Gaza

UN aid chief foresees ‘massive job’ ahead on tour of ruined Gaza
Updated 18 October 2025

UN aid chief foresees ‘massive job’ ahead on tour of ruined Gaza

UN aid chief foresees ‘massive job’ ahead on tour of ruined Gaza
  • UN relief coordinator Tom Fletcher: Gaza residents are ‘telling me most of all they want dignity’

JERUSALEM: The United Nations’ aid chief took stock of the monumental task of restoring basic necessities in the devastated Gaza Strip on Saturday, and Israel received the remains of another October 7 hostage as a ceasefire entered its second week.
In a short convoy of white UN jeeps, relief coordinator Tom Fletcher and his team wound their way through the twisted rubble of shattered homes to inspect a wastewater treatment plant in Sheikh Radwan, north of Gaza City.
“I drove through here seven to eight months ago when most of these buildings were still standing and, to see the devastation, this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland, and it’s absolutely devastating to see,†he said.
The densely packed cities of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million Palestinians, have been reduced to ruins by two years of bombardment and intense fighting between Hamas and the Israeli army.
Just over a week since US President Donald Trump helped broker a truce, the main border crossing to Egypt has yet to be reopened, but hundreds of trucks roll in daily via Israeli checkpoints and aid is being distributed.
Hamas has returned the final 20 surviving hostages it was holding and has begun to hand over the remains of another 28 who died.
On Friday night, it turned over a set of remains identified by Israel as Eliyahu Margalit, 75, who died in the October 2023 attack that ignited the war in Gaza.
Digging latrines
Surveying the damaged pumping equipment and a grim lake of sewage at the Sheikh Radwan wastewater plant, Fletcher said the task ahead for the UN and aid agencies was a “massive, massive job.â€
The British diplomat said he had met residents returning to destroyed homes trying to dig latrines in the ruins.
“They’re telling me most of all they want dignity,†he said. “We’ve got to get the power back on so we can start to get the sanitation system back in place.
“We have a massive 60 day plan now to surge in food, get a million meals out there a day, start to rebuild the health sector, bring in tents for the winter, get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school.â€
According to figures supplied to mediators by the Israeli military’s civil affairs agency and released by the UN humanitarian office, on Thursday some 950 trucks carrying aid and commercial supplies crossed into Gaza from Israel.
Relief agencies have called for the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to be reopened to speed the flow of food, fuel and medicines, and Turkiye has a team of rescue specialists waiting at the border to help find bodies in the rubble.
Hostage remains
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the ceasefire but is under pressure at home to restrict access to Gaza until the remaining bodies of the hostages taken during Hamas’s brutal attacks have been returned.
On Saturday, his office confirmed that the latest body, returned by Hamas via the Red Cross on Friday night, had been identified as Margalit, the elderly farmer who was known to his friends at the Nir Oz kibbutz as “Churchill.â€
“He was a cowboy at heart, and for many years managed the cattle branch and the horse stables of Nir Oz,†said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a support group founded by relatives of the hostages.
“He was connected to the ‘Riders of the South’ group whose members shared a love of horseback riding for over 50 years. On October 7, he went out to feed his beloved horses and was kidnapped from the stable.â€
Margalit had been married with three children and three grandchildren. His daughter Nili Margalit, also taken hostage, was freed during the war’s first brief truce in November 2023.
In a statement confirming he had been identified and his remains returned to his family, Netanyahu’s office said “we will not compromise ... and will spare no effort until we return all of the fallen abductees, down to the last one.â€
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said on Friday that the group “continues to uphold its commitment to the ceasefire agreement... and it will continue working to complete the full prisoner exchange process.â€
Under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, negotiated by Trump and regional mediators, the Palestinian militant group has returned all 20 surviving hostages and the remains of 10 out of 28 deceased ones.


Israel identifies dead hostage returned on Friday

Israel identifies dead hostage returned on Friday
Updated 34 min 53 sec ago

Israel identifies dead hostage returned on Friday

Israel identifies dead hostage returned on Friday
  • Deceased hostage Hamas returned overnight has been identified as 75-year-old Eliyahu Margalit
  • The Israeli military said on Saturday that the remains had been returned to Margalit’s family

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that the body of a deceased hostage Hamas returned overnight has been identified as 75-year-old Eliyahu Margalit.

The Israeli military “informed the family of the abductee Eliyahu Margalit... that (the body of) their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification has been completed,†Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

It added that “we will not compromise... and will spare no effort until we return all of the fallen abductees, down to the last one.â€

The remains of the hostage who died in captivity were transferred to Israeli security forces in Gaza via the Red Cross, and returned to Israel for identification at a medical analysis center, the premier’s office said on Friday night.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that the remains had been returned to Margalit’s family.

Margalit was killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza, according to a military statement.

“Eliyahu, 75 years old at the time of his death... leaves behind a wife, three children, and grandchildren. His daughter, Nili Margalit, was also abducted and returned (under) the hostage release agreement in November 2023,†the statement said.

“Hamas is required to fulfil its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families,†it added.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement Friday night that the militant group “continues to uphold its commitment to the ceasefire agreement... and it will continue working to complete the full prisoner exchange process.â€

Under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas spearheaded by US President Donald Trump, the Palestinian militant group has returned all 20 surviving hostages and the remains of 10 out of 28 known deceased ones.

Under the terms of the agreement Hamas was to hand over all of the hostages, dead and alive, before Monday at 0900 GMT.

Israel returns bodies of Palestinians

Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Saturday, bringing the total number handed over to 135, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said.

Under a ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned. Late on Friday, Hamas handed over the body of another Israeli hostage.