8:54 a.m. ET, November 24, 2023
Hamas Announces Palestinian Prisoner Release from Israeli Jails
Israeli military police guard the entrance to Ofer Israeli military prison on November 24.
Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance/Getty Images
Hamas released the names of Palestinian prisoners who are expected to be part of the initial group released from Israeli jails on Friday.
The list includes 39 names, comprising 24 women and 15 minors. Most individuals on the list are from the occupied West Bank.
CNN previously provided the figures included in the list.
These prisoners are being transferred from two jails – Damon and Megiddo, both located southeast of Haifa – and are being transported to the Ofer prison, south of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, for final examinations by the Red Cross, as per an Israeli official’s statement to CNN on Thursday.
Background: Approximately 8,300 Palestinian prisoners are presently incarcerated in Israeli jails, stated Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs.
Of these detainees, over 3,000 are held under “administrative detention,” according to Fares, who informed CNN that this means they are detained without knowledge of the charges against them, and without an ongoing legal process.
Israel has increased its arrests following Hamas’ attacks on October 7. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a non-governmental organization devoted to addressing the concerns of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, documented up to 2,070 arrests in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in that month alone, including 145 children and 55 women.
