Israel has released the final batch of Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the first phase of the multistage ceasefire agreement with Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched a team of negotiators to Cairo for more talks on the fragile truce.
The release of 641 prisoners on Thursday, including more than 450 who arrived in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip, took place following yet another Israeli delay and after Hamas handed over the remains of four Israeli captives.
Released Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Abu Amsha, who arrived in Gaza’s Khan Younis on Thursday, said he faced horrific conditions while in detention and that he received only one meal each day, which was “very bad”.
“They used to beat and humiliate us. Sick people got no medical treatment. There were a lot of skin diseases in prisons and we did not get to change the clothes since the first day of our detention,” Abu Amsha told Al Jazeera.
In the first phase of the ceasefire that took effect last month, Israel has released more than 2,000 prisoners and detainees in exchange for 25 living captives and the remains of eight others who had been held in Gaza.
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