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On February 26, the Israeli government finally released more than 600 Palestinians after withholding them since their scheduled release date of February 22. Palestinians have been celebrating the return of their movement's most prominent activists, fighters and leaders. The released prisoners were welcomed into the arms of crowds of rejoicing people.
Amidst a massive joint invasion by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli military (IDF) on the northern West Bank, the ceasefire and exchange deal negotiated by Hamas is in the final days of its first phase.
The exchange will take place in three phases and has already freed more than 1,500 prisoners. The full exchange is set to be the largest in Palestinian history by far.
Both Israelis and Palestinians see the exchange as a victory for the Palestinian resistance movement, as evidenced by the response in both mainstream and social media. Netanyahu's Likud government has admitted that the ceremonies accompanying the release of Israelis to the Red Cross have been "humiliating".
Immediately after the ceasefire deal came into effect in January and the prisoner exchange began, the IDF launched its most destructive invasion of the towns and cities of the West Bank since the Second Intifada.
A Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report on February 10 described the widespread destruction caused in the West Bank by IDF operations:
"This destruction has included the bombing and burning of residential buildings and infrastructure, the cutting off of water, electricity, and communications supplies, and a killing policy that has resulted in the deaths of 30 Palestinians—including four children—and the injury of almost 300 others over the course of 19 days."
The report also quotes an Israeli security official who declared the intentions of the invasion on national TV by saying, “We are starting a massive campaign in the northern West Bank, which could go on for months. We will act there just as we did in Gaza. We will leave them in ruins.”
A July 2024 UN report detailed the escalation in torture and violence since October 2023 against the more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Prisoners testified to conditions of humiliation, deprivation and extreme torture including dog attacks, waterboarding and sexual violence.
The Hamas ceasefire and exchange deal has already achieved the release of more Palestinian prisoners than at any other time in the history of Palestinian anti-colonial resistance. Images of the celebration of the prisoners, in defiance of an attempted ban on public displays or festivities by the IDF, have propagated widely.
Meanwhile, internal divisions in Israel are coming to a boiling point over the release of almost 2,000 prisoners. This has contributed to doubts among the Israeli public over their military's ability to achieve its stated war goals and crush the steadfast spirit of the Palestinian resistance.
Amidst increasing global condemnation and shows of force and unity by the resistance, Israelis are discussing the implications of the potential release of high-profile political prisoners in the next phase of the exchange. At the top of Hamas' list, Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa'adat are widely respected and charismatic national leaders who have been imprisoned since 2002.
Sa'adat is the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a revolutionary socialist party formed in 1967. Barghouti is a renowned military and political leader who has remained immensely popular since his imprisonment.
The release of these two leaders, added to that of thousands of their compatriots and comrades, could significantly bolster the resistance movement and even draw public support away from current PA president Mahmoud Abbas, whose government collaborates with Israel's repressive regime in the West Bank.