Israel releases 90 Palestinian prisoners as part of ceasefire agreement

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Published 9:16 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2025 | Updated 9:16 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2025


Hamas released three Israeli hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East. The truce allowed Palestinians to return to bombed-out neighborhoods to begin rebuilding their lives, while relief trucks delivered much-needed aid. Elsewhere in Gaza, crowds cheered Hamas fighters who emerged from hiding.

Fireworks were launched in celebration as buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah on the West Bank, where thousands of people waited to welcome them. Those freed from Israeli prisons included 69 women and 21 teenage boys from the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to Hamas.

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis cheered and wept in a square outside the defense headquarters as a live broadcast from Gaza showed three female hostages getting into a Red Cross vehicle surrounded by Hamas fighters.

The Israeli military said Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari had been reunited with their mothers and released a video showing them in apparent good health. Damari, who lost two fingers when she was shot the day she was abducted, smiled and embraced her mother as she held up a bandaged hand. "I would like you to tell them: Romi, Doron and Emily – an entire nation embraces you. Welcome home," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a commander by phone.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/01/19/israel-palestinian-prisoners-ceasefire-hamas/77832554007/

[RandySF]

1. Israel has only three hostages free so far.

The terrorists are winning.

[maxsolomon]

4. Debatable. There was always going to be an unequal exchange.

There is no "winning" here.

[Richard D]

2. A few of the prisoners released...

MEET A FEW OF THE TERRORIST

One of the terrorists expected to be released in the deal is Saeed Arar from the village of Qarwat Bani Zaid, a member of the cell that kidnapped and murdered Sasson Nouriel. One of Sasson Nouriel's other kidnappers was Ali Kadi who was employed by Nouriel in a candy factory in Jerusalem. He was released in the Shalit deal, deported to Gaza, and became the commander of the Nuchba terror battalion that initiated the October 7 massacre.

Ashraf Nofal, a Democratic Front terrorist from the village of Deir Sharaf, near the Jewish town of Shavei Shomron. At the beginning of the second intifada, he carried out over 10 shooting attacks on vehicles in the Samaria area. He is being released to his village.



▪️MEET THE TERROR “CHILDREN” - among the released ‘children’ terrorists:
•17-year-old: carried out a shooting attack in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood - “east” Jerusalem.
•15-year-old: carried out a shooting attack in the City of David - “east” Jerusalem.
•Noel Mahmoud Abed: carried out a stabbing attack at the Commissioner's Palace - “east” Jerusalem.
•Saj Imad: Tried to stab a soldier in Farm 7 (not sure, I think in Samaria).

[Richard D]

3. And what the terrorists get:

Pay to Slay - Released terrorists get monthly payments of $500 - $5000 per month (depending on length of incarceration), and a one time release grant of $1,500 - $25,000. This is a normal part of the Palestinian Authority’s operational budget, the “pay for slay” program which is financed by the EU and Arab country support grants, as well as offset payments from US Aid