Israel releases Holocaust survivor figures ahead of memorial day

RAMALLAH: Palestinian woman Latifa Abu Hamid said she was filled with “indescribable joy” when she heard that her three sons had been freed from Israeli prisons, even though they had been forced into exile.
The three released Saturday were among dozens of inmates freed in exchange for Israeli hostages held by Gaza militants, under the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas that has halted the war in the Palestinian territory.
Like Abu Hamid’s sons, many Palestinians released by Israel were not sent home but deported.
The 74-year-old resident of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has had five of her 10 children detained by Israel, some for decades, over their involvement in armed resistance.
Her three sons Nasr, 50, Sharif, 45, and Mohammed, 35, were released on Saturday from a prison in southern Israel’s Negev desert.
“I’m so happy. I spoke to them... I heard their voices,” said Abu Hamid.
“Of course, I would prefer them to live with us, to be here so we could enjoy their presence,” she said.
Out of 200 prisoners released on Saturday, nearly all Palestinian but including one Jordanian, 70 were handed over to Egypt, and some plan to settle in Qatar or another third country.
Abu Hamid’s living room is adorned with large painted portraits of each family member and photo montages showing her flashing a victory sign and surrounded by her sons.
Certificates of detention were displayed like diplomas.
Another photograph showed her in a dress decorated with the faces of her sons alongside an image of the Dome of the Rock, the iconic Muslim shrine in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem.
“For more than 40 years, I’ve been visiting my sons in prison — more than half my life — and I’ve never lost hope of seeing them free,” she said.
Not that three are out of jail, “it’s an indescribable joy,” said the mother.
“But the joy remains incomplete because my son Islam and the rest of the prisoners are still” locked up, she added.
One of her sons, 38-year-old Islam, has been sentenced to life like his three brothers, but is not on Israel’s list of prisoners eligible for release under the Gaza truce agreement.
Abu Hamid said Islam killed an Israeli soldier with a stone during an army raid on the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, where the family once lived.
The eldest, Naser, was one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed group established during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
He died of cancer in detention and Israel has never returned his body, said the mother.
Another son, a member of the militant group Islamic Jihad, was killed by the Israeli military in 1994.
Abu Hamid recounted how her home in Al-Amari camp had been destroyed by the Israeli army as part of a policy of reprisals against the families of Palestinians responsible for deadly attacks on Israelis, a measure condemned by the UN and human rights organizations.
Her daughter-in-law Alaa Abu Hamid, Naser’s wife, said that “we’ve been through extremely difficult days.”
“The time has finally come to find peace and regain family stability.”
Her mother-in-law noted, however, that three of her grandchildren could not attend the large family gathering planned to celebrate the releases.
They, too, are in detention.
It is not uncommon for Palestinian families to have multiple members imprisoned. Since October 7, 2023, thousands of people have been detained in the West Bank by Israel, bringing the total number of Palestinian detainees to over 10,000, according to rights groups.
The ongoing first phase of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas stipulates the release of around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including more than 230 serving life sentences, in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The 42-day truce has so far resulted in the release of seven Israeli hostages in exchange for 290 prisoners freed by Israel.
Despite the release of three of her sons, Latifa Abu Hamid said she couldn’t “fully savour” her happiness “knowing that other prisoners remain behind bars.”
“Even if Islam is freed, I won’t be truly happy until all of them are released.”

The US State Department has condemned the capture of additional UN staff by Houthi rebels in Yemen, amid the group’s ongoing attacks in the region.

In a statement, the department called for the release of all detainees, including seven UN workers captured on Thursday, and decried the “campaign of terror” by the rebel group.

“This latest Houthi roundup demonstrates the bad faith of the terrorist group’s claims to seek de-escalation and also makes a mockery of their claims to represent the interests of the Yemeni people,” the State Department said.

It also highlighted an executive order signed by President Donald Trump this week placing the Houthis back on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The Houthi militia has detained dozens of staff from UN and other humanitarian organizations, most since the middle of last year.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of all aid staff held in Yemen, where an ongoing humanitarian crisis has left the country reeling after a decade of war.

The Houthis, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, have been attacking the Red Sea shipping route and firing on Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza war, prompting reprisal strikes from US, Israeli and British forces.

On Saturday, Houthi rebels unilaterally freed 153 war detainees, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

Previous prisoner releases have been viewed as a means to jump-start talks over permanently ending Yemen’s decadelong war.

Those previously released had been visited by Red Cross staff in Sanaa and received medical checks and other assistance, the organization said while announcing the release.