TEHRAN – The Palestinian resistance movement says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his occupation forces have failed for two years to free prisoners by military means and are finally forced to accept the resistance’s terms, acknowledging that the only path to their return is through a prisoner exchange and an end to the war of annihilation.
Hamas reaffirmed its commitment to the deal, saying it had fulfilled its obligations by releasing enemy prisoners of war, and called on mediators to pressure the Israeli regime to uphold its side of the deal.
The movement emphasized that even though the occupying regime tried to kill its own prisoners during shelling, the resistance did everything possible to keep them alive.
Hamas also declared that the release of “heroic prisoners”, including those serving life sentences, was the result of the “courage and fortitude” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“The release of our heroic prisoners, especially those serving long or life sentences, is the result of the indomitable spirit of our people and the pledges kept by our resistance,” Hamas said in a statement.
It added: “Until the last Palestinian prisoners are released and the occupation ends, the issue of prisoners of war will remain a top national priority.”
Hamas also condemned the continued abuse, torture, and killing of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The Prisoner Media Bureau announced that dozens of buses carrying Palestinians released from Gaza had left for the Gaza Strip, while others had arrived in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The chief said some of those released include long-term prisoners who had been incarcerated for decades. However, the 154 freed Palestinians will be forcibly returned by regime authorities.
He added that the occupation regime tried to withdraw all the terms of the agreement, but the Palestinian resistance insisted on publishing the specific names included in the agreement. “We have improved the list of prisoners of war, especially those from the Gaza Strip.”
Large crowds gathered in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, to welcome the freed Palestinians, waving Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags. Similar scenes unfolded in Ramallah, with crowds gathering at the city’s Palace of Culture to receive the freed people.
At the same time, Israeli occupation forces attempted to prevent public celebrations in al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank.
Shirazi Abu Arefa, a lawyer at the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem, said the regime’s intelligence services summoned families of Palestinians scheduled for release under the exchange agreement and forced them to sign restrictive conditions.
These conditions included prohibitions on gatherings, public celebrations, or expressions of joy. He said all released Palestinians would be escorted to their homes by regime intelligence vehicles to ensure compliance.
A young man was shot and wounded by Israeli live ammunition while waiting for Palestinians at the notorious Ofer prison west of Ramallah.
WAFA news agency reported that occupation forces raided the home of Ayman al-Kurd, who was freed under the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and assaulted his brother, leaving him with broken bones and bruises on his nose and legs. The soldiers also damaged property and warned families of freed prisoners not to hold celebrations.
Legal scholars and experts say Palestinian prisoners should be considered hostages because their imprisonment serves political and coercive purposes rather than justice.
In Gaza and the West Bank, thousands of people have been abducted by Israeli occupation forces without charge or trial under the regime’s system of “administrative detention,” a clear violation of international law.
Human rights groups’ reports describe systematic torture, humiliation and deprivation inside the Israeli regime’s prisons, where Palestinians endure conditions designed to crush their will rather than administer justice.
During ceasefire and prisoner exchange negotiations, the administration has repeatedly used these Palestinian hostages as bargaining chips, threatening to delay or limit their release in order to extract political concessions from Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups.
This use of human beings as instruments of pressure, coupled with the widespread arbitrary and abusive nature of the detention, meets the definition of a hostage under international law, and highlights the serious moral and legal crisis surrounding the regime’s treatment of Palestinians held in its prisons.