“It was a hell,” say freed Palestinian prisoners
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have been freed from Israeli prisons after the release of three Israeli captives in Gaza under the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Released prisoners were greeted by jubilant crowds of loved ones as they arrived at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis.
Buses carrying 333 recently released Palestinian prisoners have arrived in southern Gaza's Khan Younis.
Many wore shirts branded with the Star of David along with the words "We will not forget or forgive" in Arabic.
One released prisoner told Al Jazeera Arabic that he was "isolated from the world" and suffering from "extremely difficult" conditions in Israel's Nafha desert prison, as the authorities had cut water and electricity.
“The Israelis told us to ‘Welcome to hell,'” Hazem Rajab, one of the Palestinian prisoners freed in the latest exchange, recalled while speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic. “It was a hell,” he said.
“From the first day, we were beaten badly,” Rajab added.
“The beatings were brutal, tough and unbearable,” he said, with family members standing by his side.
Meanwhile, appearing in good physical condition, the three captives, Alexander Trufanov, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Yair Horn have been handed over to the ICRC in Khan Younis before their transfer to Israel.
Four of the prisoners arrived in the occupied West Bank, have been immediately transferred to a hospital due to the severity of their health conditions, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported.
Prisoners previously released from Israeli jails have shown signs of severe torture, disease and starvation.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), some of the freed Palestinian prisoners are in extremely poor health.
One former detainee, Mansour Mouqada, was paralysed from the waist down due to injuries sustained during his 2002 arrest. PPS reported that during his imprisonment, he underwent surgery to receive a plastic stomach implant, with parts of his intestines hanging outside his body. He now suffers from chronic pain all over his body.
Another detainee, Iyad Haribat, developed a number of medical conditions, including tremors, temporary memory loss and an inability to stand on his feet following three months of violent interrogation by Israeli forces after his arrest in 2002.
