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!“
