DaysofPal – The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) warned on Wednesday that Israeli occupation authorities have intensified their campaign of persecution against prisoners released under the “ceasefire agreement” reached in January and February 2025 concerning the Gaza Strip. The latest case was the arrest of former prisoner Hanan Barghouthi, taken from her home in the town of Kobar, north of Ramallah, earlier this morning.
In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said the escalation amounts to a systematic policy and a blatant violation of the agreement. It stressed that Israel’s actions send a deliberate message to all released prisoners: that their freedom remains conditional and they will continue to be targets of arrest, interrogation, and harassment.
According to the organization’s documentation, Israeli forces have rearrested at least 40 Palestinians who were freed under the deal, while 16 others remain in detention, including three women.
The majority have been placed under administrative detention without charge or trial. Among the most prominent detainees is Wael al-Jaghoub from Nablus, who previously spent 23 years in Israeli prisons.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that many released detainees have been subjected to repeated arrests, as well as continuous field interrogations and investigations. These tactics mirror a longstanding Israeli policy of targeting released prisoners, particularly evident in the re-arrest of dozens freed in the 2014 prisoner exchange deal.
The statement added that Israel has entrenched this policy through a network of military orders, laws, and legislation, giving its practices a veneer of legal cover while intensifying what amounts to political persecution.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society also highlighted the brutality surrounding the recent releases. Prisoners freed under the January–February agreement were subjected to physical assaults and severe beatings before their release, with violations extending to their families in the form of ongoing threats and intimidation.
The organization described these practices as reaching the level of “organized terrorism” against Palestinians who were supposedly guaranteed freedom under an internationally brokered ceasefire.
The targeting of released prisoners, the statement concluded, reflects not only Israel’s systematic attempt to strip Palestinians of the few gains achieved through negotiations but also its determination to perpetuate a cycle of fear, repression, and control.
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