Freed Palestinian Prisoners Return to Ruins

At dawn on his first day of freedom, Mohammed Zaqout, a 33-year-old father of three, stepped outside a tent in Khan Younis to breathe the air of open skies — a sensation he hadn’t felt for nearly two years.

Zaqout was among hundreds of Palestinians released under a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. The moment bore deep joy, yet it came on land ravaged by war and loss.

When the freed prisoners arrived in the streets of Khan Younis, scenes alternated between jubilation and grief: families cried, flags waved, and horns blared in welcome.

Zaqout, still wearing his prison uniform, searched for his mother in the crowd, recalling how he had been told she was dead.

Walking through his old neighborhood, he confronted “horror of destruction everywhere” — over 50 of his relatives were killed, and his family now lives in a temporary tent among ruins.

Inside Israeli prisons, Zaqout accused authorities of degrading prisoners’ dignity, citing isolation, scarcity of food, and harsh conditions.

For many detainees, regaining freedom meant confronting a new reality of grief and devastation. “Freedom is not just stepping out of prison; it is walking through the ruins of everything you once knew…” said a released prisoner from Khan Younis.

According to Hamas’s Prisoners’ Office and allied organizations, Israel released about 1,968 Palestinian prisoners, including 1,718 detained after October 2023.

In return, Hamas released 20 living Israeli hostages and handed over four bodies to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Medical teams reported that many freed prisoners were in poor health, suffering conditions such as scabies, malnutrition, and exhaustion — consequences of prolonged detention under dire conditions.

While the ceasefire and prisoner release brought a fragile breath of relief to Gaza, for many the return was met with heartbreak. Moshe Saleh Qudaih, another freed prisoner, noted that although walls no longer held them, “we now face a new and uncertain reality marked by grief, devastation, and the struggle to survive.”

iraqsun.com

The exchange is part of a broader effort to stabilize the truce brokered after over two years of conflict. It also coincides with renewed pressure for opening border crossings and facilitating humanitarian aid into Gaza.