That's what it's about

• Israel has released over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
• The release took place in exchange for 20 Israeli hostages.
• Many of the prisoners were held without charge.
• Relatives criticize the poor prison conditions.

His relatives hardly recognize Kamal Abu Shanab. When the 51-year-old was released from Israeli custody on Monday along with more than 1,900 other prisoners, the Palestinians erupted in jubilation. But Shanab, from Tulkarem in the West Bank, was emaciated. He is not the person we knew, says his niece, Farah Abu Shanab."Our uncle doesn't look like our uncle."

Kamal Abu Shanab says he went through unimaginable things. It was an indescribable journey full of suffering, hunger, unfair treatment, oppression, torture, and cursing, says the member of President Mahmoud Abbas's moderate Palestinian organization Fatah. He lost 59 kilograms in prison.

Many prisoners held without charges

Israel has released more than 1,900 Palestinians under the ceasefire agreement. According to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, these include 250 prisoners sentenced to prison terms, most of them for deadly attacks against Israelis decades ago. Another approximately 1,700 were captured and held without charge by Israeli forces during the two-year war in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians celebrate them like heroes. In Beitunia, the crowd lifts some of the released prisoners onto their shoulders. Others collapse exhausted into chairs. In Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, thousands cheer and fire shots into the air as the released prisoners, wearing gray overalls, step out of Red Cross buses. They are examined at Nasser Hospital.

Prisoners exchanged for hostages

The militant Islamist Hamas extorted the release of the Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the remaining 48 hostages it had kidnapped and still held during its terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. The 20 surviving hostages were released on Monday. Hamas later handed over the bodies of four of the 28 Israelis who died while being held hostage.

For Israel, the exchange is a painful concession, as several of those released were convicted for attacks that killed Israeli civilians and soldiers. While Israel considers them terrorists, many Palestinians view them as freedom fighters who resisted the decades-long Israeli military occupation.

During the Gaza War, Israeli forces arrested thousands of Palestinians in raids on shelters, hospitals, and checkpoints. Now, many of them are expected to be released. Families often had no idea their loved ones had been detained. It often took months before they even learned they were in Israeli custody. In some cases, there was no information at all.

Human rights groups criticize prison conditions

Most prisoners were held under laws passed at the beginning of Israel's war, which allow authorities to detain Palestinians for months as unlawful combatants without judicial review or access to lawyers. Reports by human rights groups about prison conditions—including isolation, abuse, and illness—have made the prisoners prominent symbols of their people's political struggle. Nearly every Palestinian family has a relative or friend imprisoned by Israel, especially young men. Israel maintains that it adheres to legal prison standards and investigates all reports of violations.

Following Monday's release, approximately 1,300 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip remain in Israeli custody, according to a September count by the Israeli human rights group Hamoked. Among them are half a dozen well-known names not included by Hamas, including Marwan Barghouti, Hassan Salameh, Ahmed Saadat, and Abbas al-Sajjed. Barghouti is widely considered a possible successor to the 89-year-old Abbas.