HUNDREDS of Palestinians released from Israeli jails as part of the ceasefire agreement have reportedly shown signs of starvation and abuse.
Over 600 Palestinians were released on Thursday, shortly after Israel said Hamas handed over coffins containing the bodies of four captives. Israel has delayed the release of two Palestinian women and 44 children.
It was the final scheduled swap as part of the first phase of the fragile ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.
Several Palestinians were transported in ambulances to the European Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza due to the severity of their injuries. Many Palestinians were also sent to Egypt and the occupied West Bank.
Alaa al-Bayari, a Palestinian released to Gaza City, told Al Jazeera that he witnessed “torture, beating, humiliation and everything you can imagine” while in Israeli prison. He met his one-year-old daughter for the first time.
“We were kept naked, water was thrown on us and then they used electricity [to torture]", he said.
Yahya Shrida, a Palestinian prisoner who was released to Ramallah, described Israeli prisons as graveyards.
“We have been taken out of suffering. It was as if we have been dug out of our own graves. No prisoner has had the experience of having their own release delayed twice,” he told Reuters.
“What we have been through is a situation that the mountains can’t carry. It is very hard to explain; it is very hard to talk about what we have been through.”
Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Abu Azzoum, speaking from Gaza, said some Palestinians returned had their limbs cut off and others were suffering from severe injuries due to Israeli torture in detention.
“Many family members have broken down in tears after seeing their loved ones,” Abu Azzoum said, adding that those released “confirmed they have witnessed some of the worst methods of torture at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces”.
Earlier, Hamas handed over the bodies of four captives to Israel via the Red Cross.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said the bodies were identified as Ohad Yahalomi, Tsachi Idan, Itzik Elgarat, and Shlomo Mantzur.
Israel’s military offensive, launched in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, has been among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history.
More than 48,000 Palestinian people have been killed by Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, according to the local health ministry. The hundreds of thousands of people who have been able to return to northern Gaza under the ceasefire have settled wherever they can amid the ruins.
The ceasefire’s first phase will end on Saturday and may not be extended. If fighting resumes, the current flow of humanitarian aid is expected to drop dramatically.
The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction at over 50 billion dollars (£39.4bn), and it could take years just to clear the rubble.
