Thousands of Palestinians are in Israeli jails – one father hopes the ceasefire will bring his son home
In a smoke-filled room in Bethlehem, four men pore over a list – just released – of the names of Palestinian detainees to be freed in phase one of the ceasefire deal.
This is the office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society. The phone has not stopped ringing. Families are desperate for news.
Some 735 names are on the list – 328 of them handed one or more life sentences, 74 have faced no charges and 49 are under “administrative detention”, which means they have been held for an indeterminate amount of time, without charge.
Gaza latest: No ceasefire without list of hostages to be freed, Netanyahu warns
Firas Hassan hopes the ceasefire lasts long enough to get his son back
One room here is packed floor to ceiling in case files.
“Since 1967 the Israeli occupation has arrested 1.2 million Palestinians,” says Abdullah Zaghari, the director of the organisation.
Now, he says, 10,400 Palestinians – from the West Bank and East Jerusalem – are in Israeli jails.
A handwritten list of prisoners and their status
The number who’ve been taken from Gaza since 7 October, though, is unknown.
“This is the biggest challenge for us,” Mr Zaghari says.
“We’ve received calls from families in Gaza since the beginning of the war, they have no confirmation about who has been arrested. Maybe some, maybe they’ve been killed. Maybe they are in secret jails.”
He claims conditions in prisons have worsened since 7 October – as “revenge” for the Hamas attacks.
Read more: A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
“Hundreds of people in the jails are suffering from starvation, from disease, unable to shower… most of the prisoners in the jails lose more than 40kg in body weight,” he claims.
Before 7 October, the biggest prisoner handover came after the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. He was abducted in a cross-border tunnel raid and held by Hamas for five years.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society
More than 1,000 Palestinians were freed in the prisoner exchange, but among them, after 22 years in prison, was Yahya Sinwar. He became Hamas leader in Gaza and is widely regarded as the architect of 7 October – finally killed by the Israeli military in Tal as-Sultan, in Rafah, last October.
Across Bethlehem, sat together on a terrace in the shade of a tree, we meet a family with three generations who’ve each experienced time in Israeli prisons. Grandfather, son and, now missing, their eldest son.
It was at two o’clock in the morning, Firas Hassan, 50, tells me that his son Ahmed, 16, was dragged from his bed. He’d criticised the Israeli occupation on Facebook. That was last September. Firas fears for his son in Ktzi’ot jail in southern Israel.
Ahmed Firas
He knows too well what jail is like. He’s spent 15 years in and out of various Israeli prisons. He was last released in April 2024, after two years, this time with no charge.
He’d been arrested at a checkpoint, sat in his car, on his way to university to study for his master’s degree.
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As a young man, he had been a member of the political wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, he told me, but no more.
“I was in prison multiple times for a long time because of my opposition to the occupation. The situation in jail is very difficult – especially after 7 October. Before 7 October the situation was stable, after that, everything turned upside down, it was horrible, crazy, scary – the beatings, starvation and decreasing the amount of food compared to before 7 October.”
The Palestinian Prisoners Society
Firas says he was beaten on his last day in jail, showing us a photograph – his face swollen and bruised.
Now he wants his son home. His hope: that the ceasefire lasts long enough to get his first born back to his family.
Israel says its arrests and detentions comply with international law and the Israeli Prison Service denies all allegations of abuse.
Additional reporting by producer Nick Stylianou
World
Benjamin Netanyahu says ceasefire will not go ahead until Hamas releases list of hostages to be freed
World
Netanyahu says Israel retains ‘right to return to combat’ if ceasefire negotiations do not progress
Israel retains the “right” to resume fighting if negotiations with Hamas over the implementation of a ceasefire – expected to take effect today – do not progress, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
Speaking hours before a long-sought Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was expected to take effect, Mr Netanyahu warned: “If we must return to fighting, we will do that in new, forceful ways.”
US President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump, who takes over from his Democratic rival after his inauguration on Monday, gave “full backing to Israel’s right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile”, the Israeli PM said.
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Protesters in Tel Aviv want all hostages released in ceasefire
Qatari officials who brokered the deal between Israel and Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, said the ceasefire will come into effect from today at 6.30am UK time after it was approved by the Israeli cabinet on Friday night.
Follow the latest updates on the Gaza ceasefire
In its first stage, the deal would see 33 of the 98 hostages freed over the course of six weeks. About half of the 98 are believed to be alive.
The remainder are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first.
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How the war has destroyed Gaza
Between 990 and 1,650 Palestinian prisoners and detainees will be released in exchange, depending on the number of hostages freed.
Mr Netanyahu, who has faced resignation threats by the far-right members of his government over the terms of the ceasefire agreement, said yesterday the deal wouldn’t go ahead if Hamas failed to release a list of the 33 hostages due to be released.
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What does ceasefire mean for Palestinian prisoners?
His office said in a statement: “We will not move forward with the outline until we receive the list of hostages to be released, as agreed.
“Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement. The sole responsibility lies with Hamas.”
Families of hostages gathered earlier this week in Jerusalem. Pic: Reuters
Read more:
Qatar’s PM says ceasefire deal is ‘last chance for Gaza’
What do we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal? – Watch
The truce, brokered on Wednesday by the US, Qatar and Egypt following months of indirect talks between the warring parties, is the second one since the war broke out in Gaza.
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Qatar PM discusses ceasefire deal
Israel launched a powerful military campaign on the densely populated enclave following Hamas’s unprecedented attack on 7 October 2023 which saw militants paragliding into southern Israel and killing 1,200 people.
About 250 people were taken hostage during the attack, with nearly 100 still in captivity.
The 15-month war in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who also claim women and children make up more than half of the deaths.
The ceasefire deal is “the last chance for Gaza”, Qatar’s prime minister has said, adding: “Failure is not an option.”
In an exclusive interview with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani warned that “peace won’t happen” if there is not a Palestinian state.
He also criticised parties for the time it took to reach a deal.
Qatar has been one of the key mediators between Israel and Hamas in the more than 15 months since the renewed conflict erupted.
Mr al Thani told Sky News: “What we have reached with this deal is the last chance for Gaza. To save Gaza from this war this is our last chance.
“When we talk about peace in general, peace won’t happen without a Palestinian state at the end of the day. To address the root cause of the issue and not to just address the symptoms of the issue.”
Gaza ceasefire agreement latest: Israel’s security cabinet recommends approving deal
Qatar’s prime minister spoke to Yalda Hakim
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Asked what the consequences of the ceasefire deal collapsing would be, he said: “Failure is not an option. That’s what all of us should aspire to.
“If it fails we will not give up we will make sure it is rehashed again and the parties are adhering to that.”
Mr al Thani said Qatar’s role was as “guarantor and mediators” and that they would make sure the deal is delivered.
He talked about creating a “safety net” for any issues to be resolved before the deal “explodes”.
Qatar’s prime minister also criticised the negotiating parties for the time it took to agree a deal, saying that it was the same framework agreed upon in December 2023.
“Which is basically 13-months of a waste of negotiating the details that has no meaning and is not worth a single life that we lost in Gaza or a single life of the hostages lost because of the bombing.”
Read more:
Iraqi PM frustrated with West’s ‘failures’ over Gaza
The British families of hostages waiting for news
He also touched on US president-elect Donald Trump, who he said could “create a greater impact for the region”.
Commenting on how the incoming administration has operated during negotiations, he said: “I believe if this continues to be the attitude and approach for the next four years, we can create a lot of good things for the region.”
Elaborating on the need for a Palestinian state next to an Israeli state, he said: “That’s what we are aiming for.
“And I believe this moment we count on the wisdom of the leadership of the world. To really push for a solution at the end to the day.”
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