According to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the batch who were freed included 69 girls and women and 21 children, with 76 from the West Bank and 14 from East Jerusalem.
Over the next 42 days, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners will be freed in exchange for 33 Israeli captives.
Some of those released on Sunday night recounted facing horror stories during their time in captivity.
Accounts from Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons have always depicted stories of being subjected to systematic violence, rape, and torture - often deadly - at the hands of Israeli prison guards.
A whopping 56 Palestinian prisoners have died of torture, starvation, or medical neglect in Israeli jails as prison guards instituted a reign of terror against detainees after the start of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
On Sunday afternoon, hours before the latest batch of Palestinian prisoners were reunited with their loved ones in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club announced the death of detainee Mohammed Yassin Khalil Jaber, 22, in an Israeli prison as a result of medical neglect.
Prison means darkness!
Rose Khwais, an 18-year-old native of East Jerusalem, was the youngest female detainee freed from Israeli prisons in this batch.
After two years in an Israeli prison, Israeli police escorted her handcuffed to her family home in the Old City before releasing her.
Rose returned to her family’s warm embrace but with stories of harassment and abuse in Israeli prisons.
Khwais recounted her time in Israeli prisons in an interview with Al Jazeera.
"At first, I was in shock. I didn’t understand what prison was," she stated.
Rose said she did not even understand or know what it meant to be called in for questioning.
"All I knew about prison was what former detainees had told us—that it was a small room with a small bed—but I never imagined it could be this bad," she recounted.
Rose said she faced grave health problems during her time in captivity, but she was only concerned for her parents.
She suffered from a stroke, cardiac oedema, and problems with her blood pressure.
“There was no proper treatment or even sufficient food," added Khwais.
"Despite this, I didn’t care about myself, but I was only worried that my parents would hear that I had gotten sick in prison," she said.
"Prison means darkness," Rose told Al Jazeera.
"You don’t see anyone. It's like a grave but with some light," she said.
"They scared us, threatened us, conducted strip searches, and sexually harassed us," added Rose.
Sometimes 24/7!
Baraa Hatem Hafez, 25, a native of Tulkaram in the West Bank, described her ordeal to Al Jazeera.
"Initially, we were confined to our cells 24 hours a day, but on calm days, they might let us out for an hour," said Baraa, who was arrested in August 2024.
"The pressure was incredibly high during my time in captivity," she added.
Baraa said: "The overcrowding of prisoners per cell was overwhelming, which made the situation even more stressful."
"There was absolutely no privacy at all," she recounted.
She said prisoners' access to healthcare was increasingly restricted, and prisoners had to overcome major obstacles to receive any medical attention at all.
"Repression was constant."
"When one of us needed to go to the clinic, court, or meet with a lawyer, that’s when they treated us the worst."
"They would drag us, handcuff our hands and feet, and even blindfold us," Baraa recounted.
Israeli prison guards would sometimes spray detainees with teargas or leave prisoners handcuffed in the yard under the scorching sun for hours, she added.
"To be honest, all of our conditions in jail were difficult," she concluded.
How can we celebrate?
"How can we celebrate our newfound freedom?" Khitam Habayba, 50, a native of Sanour near Jenin in the West Bank, wondered.
Khitam, arrested in July 2024, argued that it is impossible to explain how she felt as a newly freed woman, knowing the impossible circumstances Gazaans faced.
"We were deeply saddened by what was happening in Gaza,” recounted Khitam.
"In the end, we made it out. We overcame the prison, thanks to God first and foremost, and to the people who sacrificed so much for this moment."
Thank You Gaza!
Another freed woman, Jenin Amro, 25, a native of Dora near Hebron, was arrested a month after the start of the Israeli war on Gaza.
Jenin attributed her release to the people of Gaza.
“Thank you so much to all those in Gaza, who sacrificed a lot so that we can be freed.”
"There are still many women and girls from Gaza in Israeli prisons."
Phases II and III of the ceasefire deal stipulate more Israeli captive-for-Palestinian prisoner swaps.
The list of Palestinian prisoners expected to be released from Israeli prisons includes numerous high-profile national figures and more than 250 serving life sentences.
Lawyer Khalida Jarrar, 61, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is among the prominent names on the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released after 13 months in jail.
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