Jerusalem – Ma’an Report – After hours in which the families of the prisoners held their breath, the time for the meeting came after years of deprivation in the occupation prisons, and the city of Jerusalem was on a date after midnight with the liberation of 6 of its sons, as part of the second batch of the exchange deal between Hamas and Israel on the second day. Humanitarian truce in the Strip.
The oldest Jerusalemite prisoner and the highest-ranking woman, Shorouk Dwayyat, Israa Jaabis, Nourhan Awad, Fadwa Hamada, Aisha Al-Afghani, and the boy Omar Shweiki, spent their first night among their family members, families, and children, after years spent in occupation prisons. They were liberated from captivity, and each of them has a story of pain and suffering. They carried with them the prisoners and their message to “work hard for their liberation.”
As every time, the occupation is trying to dampen the joy of releasing Jerusalemite prisoners and deprive them of the joy that is incomplete in itself, by summoning families and detaining them until the midnight hours, imposing restrictions and conditions on the families, storming homes, and attacking families and press crews.
The families of the Jerusalemite prisoners whose sons were released after midnight explained that the occupation intelligence summoned them for interrogation at noon, and at approximately 12 a.m., they transferred each person to a private intelligence vehicle and forced them to sit in it. Within minutes, the female prisoners were transferred to the vehicles and each family was delivered to their home. Forces and intelligence personnel remained present in the vicinity of each house until it was confirmed that the released persons and their families had entered it.
As for the father of the Jerusalemite prisoner, Nofath Hammad, who was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison, he was summoned along with the rest of the family and detained until midnight, then he was released without releasing his daughter.
At Jaabis’s house, in the evening hours, the forces stormed the family’s place where they decided to receive their daughter as soon as she was released from prison at her brother’s house, and asked her to vacate the place and return to Israa’s house, and the family did so, and after gathering in the house and before Israa was released minutes later, the forces stormed the place. They beat and pushed those who were there, evacuated it except for the family members, and forcibly removed the press crews from the place and prevented them from photographing.
Ma’an Agency correspondent in Jerusalem visited 3 freed female prisoners immediately after their release from prisons, in Sur Baher and Jabal Mukaber, in the city of Jerusalem.
Freed prisoner Shorouk Dwayyat… We make a miracle out of pain
Freed prisoner Shorouk Dwayyat was arrested in 2015 while she was in her first year of study at university. She was critically injured after bullets were fired at her in the Old City. She was then sentenced to 16 years in actual prison. She said in her first interview with the media: “The feeling of joy is mixed with pain, so there is no… We forget what is happening in the Gaza Strip, the massacres being committed, but we are a people who love joy, and we create miracles out of pain, and we create joy, challenge, and persistence.”
Dwayyat added: “We left behind male and female prisoners with high sentences.” My message: Do not forget the life-sentence prisoners.
Dwayyat said: “I feel like I am in a dream. I was always hoping that I would be freed. I remained strong inside the prison for the sake of my father and family.”
The touching meeting was the moment she embraced and saw her brother Muhammad, who was prevented from visiting her during the years of her captivity because he was a former security prisoner, and she began to hesitate as she hugged him, “You are Muhammad, I am not dreaming right…”
One of the most difficult moments that Shurouk experienced was in the last minutes of her release, as they were deprived of her and prevented her from hugging her father or talking to him during their transfer from the Al-Maskobiyah Police Station to her home in Sur Baher, explaining: “There was no glass or restrictions between me and my father. We were in the intelligence car and a policewoman sat between us, and she was even prevented from entering.” Hugging his hand or touching his fingers, until I reached the door of the house and we were taken out of the intelligence vehicle, only then was I able to embrace him.”
Freed prisoner, mother Fadwa Hamada… 5 children prepared and welcomed their mother with flowers
In the home of freed prisoner Fadwa Hamada, her five children prepared themselves to receive the mother who had been absent from them for nearly 8 years, and to embrace her. They prepared bouquets of roses to present to her. Fadwa Hamada said to her children after she arrived home: “Come, I will hug you like roses… I am happy that I saw you and returned to you and I am able today.” I hold you and kiss you.”
The mother of the freed prisoner, Fadwa Hamada, said: “The children were so eager to see their mother, from the hours of Saturday morning until she arrived home. They frequented the windows, the door, and the yard, and they dressed up and bought flowers for their mother.”
She explained that her daughter was in a state of shock the moment she arrived at her home in the village of Sur Baher, due to her lack of knowledge of what was happening around her, the long hours of detention, the method of transporting her and delivering her to her home, and the isolation of female prisoners since the beginning of the war.
The editor, Hamada, was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Freed prisoner Israa Jaabis… We hide our joy and live with a dream… and my child has become a young man
In the house of the captive Israa Al-Jaabis, the first embrace was between Israa and her only son Mutasim, after deprivation from the moment of arrest. Jaabis said: “Muatasem reminded me that I was away from him for 8 years and two months. Today I see a tall young man, but he is a child, and when I was arrested he was in the second grade of primary school. Today’s feeling.” I have to get to know Moatasem from the beginning. During visits, he was prevented from entering my place, and he was not able to visit me every time.”
She added: “I feel like I am dreaming. The female captives and I, when we were together in the “Al-Bosta” car, felt like we were dreaming, after the moment of our release approached. We want to be happy about the deal, but we are ashamed and hide our joy because of the situation. She said: “The joy is not complete.”
Regarding the burns she sustained on the day of her arrest after a gas pipe exploded while she was at the Zaeem checkpoint, she said: “I am a woman, and a woman is in a condition like me. Her mirror was broken before it got stuck.” Severe pain and medical neglect I suffered from over the years of my detention. I suffer from hearing problems. And problems under the armpits, and problems in the fingers… and others.”
She said that all prisoners need psychological care and rehabilitation, as the conditions inside the prisons are very harsh and difficult. Since October 7, we have been prevented from visiting lawyers, and fines have been imposed on us. Our belongings, even our clothes and shoes, have been confiscated. She said: “What hurts me most is the confiscation of my research, studies, and drawings.”
A liberated boy in the second batch of the deal
The boy, Omar Shweiki, who was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 25 months in prison, said: “The conditions during this period inside the prisons are difficult, the suffering is great, and there is no complete joy in our liberation from captivity.”
The families of the prisoners are awaiting the third day of the truce, and the lists of male and female prisoners who are scheduled to be released, noting that the list of the “Israeli Ministry of Justice” included 79 prisoners from the city of Jerusalem who hold “Israeli ID.” During the past two days, 11 male and female prisoners were released.
Source: Maan News Agency