17-year-old Yazan Al-Hasanat is suspected by Israel of membership in the terror-listed “People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine” – but denies the accusation himself. Yesterday he was one of the Palestinian prisoners who were released in exchange for the Hamas hostages.
At the family’s home, several relatives have gathered to finally see him again.
– Yesterday I couldn’t believe that I would be allowed to go home. I asked the woman from the Red Cross on the bus several times: “Where are we going?”, he tells TV4 Nyheterna.
Couldn’t go to the toilet
Yazan Al-Hasanat is one of the 117 Palestinian prisoners released against 39 from the Hamas hostages. He was arrested after the Hamas attack on October 7 and talks about a tough time behind bars in Israel.
– At the beginning of the war, we were beaten every day. There was no water and no electricity. We couldn’t go to the toilet because there was no water, he says.
Fatima Ismail is also one of the Palestinian prisoners released according to the exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel. She was accused in April of trying to stab a settler. In connection with the arrest, she was shot in the back. Today she can’t walk.
– I denied it, because it hasn’t happened. That accusation was made up, she says.
“Took out his anger on us”
Going forward, a trial is expected to be held against her and any evidence will be presented. Israel has been criticized for using administrative detention, which means arresting people without trial. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli information center for human rights, 350 Palestinians were in administrative detention in 2020. Since then, the correctional service has not released new total statistics.
Since the Hamas attack in Gaza, 3,000 Palestinians have been arrested. Fatima Ismail says that the situation changed after the war broke out.
– The treatment of us prisoners after October 7 was very harsh. We were subjected to severe trials and were pressed more and more. We didn’t know what had happened out there, but it was noticeable that something had happened in the way of the prison guards. They treated us brutally, as if they were taking out their anger on us, she says.
On Monday, Hamas is expected to release eleven hostages. But according to information, it has been delayed by several hours, as the parties disagreed about who should be released.