Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners

Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners
A crowd welcomes Palestinians formerly jailed by Israel as they arrive in a Red Cross convoy to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Jan. 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 02 February 2025
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Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners

Tears and cheers for freed West Bank Palestinian prisoners
  • During Saturday’s fourth prisoner release since the January 19 Gaza ceasefire began, an eager crowd gathered to see 25 Palestinian prisoners released in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
  • A total of 183 prisoners, almost all Palestinians except for one Egyptian, were released on Saturday

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Stepping off a bus with two dozen other released Palestinian prisoners on Saturday after 23 years imprisonment in Israel, Ata Abdelghani had more than his freedom to look forward to.
The 55-year-old was also to meet his twin sons, Zain and Zaid, for the first time.
The encounter was made possible by his release in an ongoing hostage-prisoner exchange as part of a January ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip agreed by Israel and Hamas.
The twins, now 10 years old, were conceived while Abdelghani was incarcerated after his sperm was smuggled out of his prison.
He had been serving a life sentence on a number of counts including murder, according to a list released by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in Ramallah.
“These children are the ambassadors of freedom, the future generation,” Abdelghani said as he hugged the boys tightly.

During Saturday’s fourth prisoner release since the January 19 Gaza ceasefire began, an eager crowd gathered to see 25 Palestinian prisoners released in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Wearing grey prison tracksuits and with their heads shaved, the prisoners looked weary as they arrived, but many were hoisted onto people’s shoulders by the crowd and carried along in a heroes’ welcome.
“It’s hard to describe in words,” Abdelghani said.
“My thoughts are scattered. I need a great deal of composure to control myself, to steady my nerves, to absorb this overwhelming moment.”
He added that the situation in prison had been “difficult, tragic.”
A total of 183 prisoners, almost all Palestinians except for one Egyptian, were released on Saturday.
Seven serving life sentences and an Egyptian were deported to Egypt, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. Of the remainder, 150 were sent to Gaza.

The prisoners were released in exchange for three Israelis taken hostage during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Riad Marshoud, another freed prisoner, cried when he hugged his two sons, who were boys when he was jailed 22 years ago.
After hugging them tightly, he sat on a chair while relatives made video calls to cousins and uncles who had not been able to come to see him released.
One relative was in Jordan and another in the United Arab Emirates.
All tried to catch a glimpse of the dazed and tired but elated Marshoud as he received congratulations.
“The first moment when the bus doors opened and I stepped out was very difficult — it’s hard to describe it in mere words,” he told the crowd.
The dense throng that had come to see Marshoud parted when his father arrived wearing a traditional keffiyeh around his head.
The father greeted his son with tearful kisses.
Marshoud had been jailed on charges of membership of an illegal organization, shooting and conspiracy to commit murder, according to Israel’s justice ministry.
Shortly after the families in Ramallah took their released relatives home, three busloads of prisoners arrived in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, an AFP journalist reported.
The 150 prisoners were greeted as they got off the bus by chants from the crowd — “In blood and spirit, we shall redeem you, prisoner!“


UAE, Egyptian presidents discuss strengthening fraternal ties

UAE, Egyptian presidents discuss strengthening fraternal ties
Updated 8 sec ago
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UAE, Egyptian presidents discuss strengthening fraternal ties

UAE, Egyptian presidents discuss strengthening fraternal ties
  • El-Sisi hosts Cairo iftar banquet in honor of Sheikh Mohamed

LONDON: Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE, discussed regional development and brotherly ties with the president of Egypt, Abdul Fattah El-Sisi, in Cairo.

The two leaders met on Saturday to discuss their countries’ relations and ways to enhance cooperation in the development, economic, and investment sectors to serve mutual interests, the Emirates News Agency reported.

They confirmed their commitment to enhancing the strong relationship between Abu Dhabi and Cairo while promoting collaboration in all areas.

El-Sisi hosted an iftar banquet in honor of Sheikh Mohamed and the accompanying UAE delegation, composed of senior Emirati officials, the agency added.

Sheikh Mohamed left Egypt on Saturday evening from Cairo International Airport, where the Egyptian president and several senior officials bid him farewell.


Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements
Updated 23 March 2025
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Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned on Sunday an Israeli decision to recognize more than a dozen new settlements in the occupied West Bank, upgrading existing neighborhoods to independent settlement status.
The decision by Israel’s security cabinet was a show of “disregard for international legitimacy and its resolutions,” said a statement from the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry.
The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians as well as nearly 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader and settler who was behind the cabinet’s decision, hailed it as an “important step” for Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Smotrich is a leading voice calling for Israel to formally annex the West Bank — as it did in 1967 after capturing east Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
“The recognition of each (neighborhood) as a separate community... is an important step that would help their development,” Smotrich said in a statement on Telegram, calling it part of a “revolution.”
“Instead of hiding and apologizing, we raise the flag, we build and we settle,” he said.
“This is another important step toward de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” added Smotrich, using the Biblical name for the West Bank.
In its statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry also mentioned an ongoing major Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank, saying it was accompanied by “an unprecedented escalation in the confiscation of Palestinian lands.”
The 13 settlement neighborhoods approved for development by the Israeli cabinet are located across the West Bank. Some of them are effectively part of the bigger settlements they belong to while others are practically separate.
Their recognition as separate communities under Israeli law is not yet final.
Hailing the “normalization” of settlement expansion, the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization for the municipal councils of West Bank settlements, thanked Smotrich for pushing for the cabinet decision.
According to EU figures, 2023 saw a 30-year record in settlement building permits issued by Israel.


Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south

Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south
Updated 23 March 2025
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Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south

Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south
  • The NNA also reported separate Israeli strikes on Sunday on Naqurah, Shihin and Labbouneh in the south

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed Sunday in an Israeli drone strike, a day after the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah.
“The Israeli enemy raid with a drone on a car in Aita Al-Shaab led to the death of one citizen,” the health ministry said, after the official National News Agency (NNA) had reported the strike on the southern village.
The NNA also reported separate Israeli strikes on Sunday on Naqurah, Shihin and Labbouneh in the south, near the Israeli border.
Saturday saw the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire halted the war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Lebanese health ministry said seven people were killed on Saturday, including in an attack on Tyre which a security source told AFP targeted a Hezbollah official.
Israel said the strikes were “a response to rocket fire toward Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out” in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon.”
The November ceasefire brought relative calm after a year of hostilities, including two months of open war, between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon after the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic.”


Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains

Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains
Updated 23 March 2025
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Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains

Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains
  • Eyewitnesses in the area reported seven rounds of shelling rocking residential neighborhoods controlled by the army
  • In recent days, the army regained most of central Khartoum’s government district from the RSF

KHARTOUM: Three civilians including two children were killed Sunday in an artillery attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Omdurman, part of the Sudanese capital, a medical source told AFP.
Eyewitnesses in the area reported seven rounds of shelling rocking residential neighborhoods controlled by the army, which in recent days regained most of central Khartoum’s government district from the RSF.
“Two children and a woman were killed and eight others injured in the shelling,” said the medical source at Al-Nao hospital, one of the city’s last functioning health facilities, requesting anonymity for their safety.
Since April 2023, the RSF has battled Sudan’s regular army in a war that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
The army and allied groups on Friday recaptured the country’s presidential palace, launching a clearing operation to push the RSF out of central Khartoum’s administrative and financial district.
On Saturday, they claimed several strategic state institutions that had been overrun by paramilitaries, including the central bank, state intelligence headquarters and the national museum.
RSF fighters remain stationed in parts of central Khartoum including the airport, as well as the capital’s south and west.
From their positions in western Omdurman, they have regularly launched strikes on civilian areas.
In February, over 50 people were killed in a single RSF artillery attack on a busy Omdurman market.
Despite the army’s advances in the capital, Africa’s third largest country remains effectively split in two, with the army holding the east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south.


Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial

Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial
Updated 23 March 2025
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Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial

Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial
  • Ruling likely to stoke tensions after four days of protests
  • The court said Imamoglu and at least 20 others were jailed as part of a corruption investigation

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Sunday pending trial, state media and other broadcasters said, in a move likely to stoke the country’s biggest protests in more than decade.
The decision to send Imamoglu — who is President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — to prison comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticized the actions against him as politicized.
The court said Imamoglu and at least 20 others were jailed as part of a corruption investigation. A separate ruling on a terror-related investigation has yet to be issued.Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said on Sunday that he will not bow down after court ruled to jail him pending trial over corruption related investigation.
"We will, hand in hand, uproot this blow, this black stain on our democracy... I am standing tall, I will not bow down," Imamoglu said in a post on X.