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Tears and Cheers for Freed West Bank Palestinian Prisoners

A man launches himself from the crowd to greet a returning Palestinian prisoner - AFP
A man launches himself from the crowd to greet a returning Palestinian prisoner - AFP
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Tears and Cheers for Freed West Bank Palestinian Prisoners

A man launches himself from the crowd to greet a returning Palestinian prisoner - AFP
A man launches himself from the crowd to greet a returning Palestinian prisoner - AFP

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, AFP reported.

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."

He added that the situation in prison had been "difficult, tragic".

A total of 183 prisoners, almost all Palestinians except for one Egyptian, were released on Saturday.

- His boys became men -

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.

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!"

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Israel’s Cutoff of Supplies to Gaza Sends Prices Soaring as Aid Stockpiles Dwindle

Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israel’s Cutoff of Supplies to Gaza Sends Prices Soaring as Aid Stockpiles Dwindle

Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel’s cutoff of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s 2 million people has sent prices soaring and humanitarian groups into overdrive trying to distribute dwindling stocks to the most vulnerable.

The aid freeze has imperiled the progress aid workers say they have made to stave off famine over the past six weeks during Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to in January.

After more than 16 months of war, Gaza’s population is entirely dependent on trucked-in food and other aid. Most are displaced from their homes, and many need shelter. Fuel is needed to keep hospitals, water pumps, bakeries and telecommunications — as well as trucks delivering the aid — operating.

Israel says the siege aims at pressuring Hamas to accept its ceasefire proposal. Israel has delayed moving to the second phase of the deal it reached with Hamas, during which the flow of aid was supposed to continue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he is prepared to increase the pressure and would not rule out cutting off all electricity to Gaza if Hamas doesn’t budge.

Rights groups have called the cutoff a “starvation policy.”

Four days in, how is the cutoff affecting Gaza?

Food, fuel and shelter supplies are threatened The World Food Program, the UN's main food agency, says it has no major stockpile of food in Gaza because it focused on distributing all incoming food to hungry people during Phase 1 of the deal. In a statement to AP, it said existing stocks are enough to keep bakeries and kitchens running for under two weeks.

WFP said it may be forced to reduce ration sizes to serve as many people as possible. It said its fuel reserves, necessary to run bakeries and transport food, will last for a few weeks if not replenished soon.

There’s also no major stockpile of tents in Gaza, said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council. The shelter materials that came in during the ceasefire’s first phase were “nowhere near enough to address all of the needs,” she said.

“If it was enough, we wouldn’t have had infants dying from exposure because of lack of shelter materials and warm clothes and proper medical equipment to treat them,” she said.

At least seven infants in Gaza died from hypothermia during Phase 1.

Urgently checking reserves “We’re trying to figure out, what do we have? What would be the best use of our supply?" said Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for UNICEF. "We never sat on supplies, so it’s not like there’s a huge amount left to distribute.”

He predicted a “catastrophic result” if the aid freeze continues.

During the ceasefire's first phase, humanitarian agencies rushed in supplies, with about 600 trucks entering per day on average. Aid workers set up more food kitchens, health centers and water distribution points. With more fuel coming in, they could double the amount of water drawn from wells, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

Around 100,000 tents also arrived as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians tried to return to their homes, only to find them destroyed or too damaged to live in.

But the progress relied on the flow of aid continuing.

Oxfam has 26 trucks with thousands of food packages and hygiene kits and 12 trucks of water tanks waiting outside Gaza, said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead in the West Bank.

“This is not just about hundreds of trucks of food, it’s about the total collapse of systems that sustain life,” she said.

The International Organization for Migration has 22,500 tents in its warehouses in Jordan after trucks brought back their undelivered cargo once entry was barred, said Karl Baker, the agency's regional crisis coordinator.

The International Rescue Committee has 6.7 tons of medicines and medical supplies waiting to enter Gaza and its delivery is “highly uncertain,” said Bob Kitchen, vice president of its emergencies and humanitarian action department.

Medical Aid for Palestinians said it has trucks stuck at Gaza's border carrying medicine, mattresses and assistive devices for people with disabilities. The organization has some medicine and materials in reserve, said spokesperson Tess Pope, but "we don’t have stock that we can use during a long closure of Gaza.”

Prices up sharply Prices of vegetables and flour are now climbing in Gaza after easing during the ceasefire.

Sayed Mohamed al-Dairi walked through a bustling market in Gaza City just after the aid cutoff was announced. Already, sellers were increasing the prices of dwindling wares.

“The traders are massacring us, the traders are not merciful to us,” he said. “In the morning, the price of sugar was 5 shekels. Ask him now, the price has become 10 shekels.”

In the central Gaza city of Deir Al-Balah, one cigarette priced at 5 shekels ($1.37) before the cutoff now stands at 20 shekels ($5.49). One kilo of chicken (2.2 pounds) that was 21 shekels ($5.76) is now 50 shekels ($13.72). Cooking gas has soared from 90 shekels ($24.70) for 12 kilos (26.4 pounds) to 1,480 shekels ($406.24).

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Israel cut off all aid to Gaza for two weeks — a measure central to South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice. That took place as Israel launched the most intense phase of its aerial bombardment of Gaza, one of the most aggressive campaigns in modern history.

Palestinians fear a repeat of that period.

“We are afraid that Netanyahu or Trump will launch a war more severe than the previous war,” said Abeer Obeid, a Palestinian woman from northern Gaza. "For the extension of the truce, they must find any other solution.”