ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
And now to Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Crowds filled the streets, welcoming home thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who've been held in Israeli custody. These homecomings are the result of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement. NPR's Anas Baba and Carrie Kahn have been reporting all day on the releases there. And a warning to listeners - you will hear the sound of gunshots in this conversation. NPR's Carrie Kahn joins us now. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Hi.
LIMBONG: All right. So the largest number of Palestinian detainees and prisoners released from Israeli prisons were sent back today to Gaza. What can you tell us about that release?
KAHN: More than 1,700 of the nearly 2,000 detainees were bused into Gaza today. They are among the thousands that Israel has detained in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Israel says they are, quote, "unlawful combatants." They've never charged them. And for many of their family members, they've received no information about their whereabouts for up to two years. NPR's Anas Baba was in southern Gaza today as the detainees arrived to great cheers and celebratory gunfire.
(CHEERING)
KAHN: At the Nasser medical clinic in Khan Yunis, he described families out in force. There were children holding flowers. And he says the mood was just such an incredible mix of emotions, hugging and lots of crying.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: The freed prisoners appear totally and extremely pale here, as they haven't seen the sunlight for years. They are very weak to walk, actually. It seems also that there are no homes or neighborhoods to return to. This was the news that most of the prisoners cried for.
KAHN: According to one Israeli human rights prisoners' group, there are still more than a thousand detainees from Gaza still in Israeli custody. So for many waiting at the Nasser medical clinic today, they left heartbroken, not finding their loved ones among those released.
LIMBONG: You were in the West Bank where hundreds of prisoners from Israel were also freed. And as I understand it, many were prisoners serving life sentences. Who did you talk to today?
KAHN: Right. That's correct. In Ramallah, a huge crowd greeted a bus of detainees and prisoners released at the city's cultural center. But Israeli troops had warned families of those to be released that there could be no celebrations or Palestinian flags visible, no rejoicing. The crowd dispersed very quickly, and relatives waved me away saying they were just too afraid to talk.
I went to a local hospital, too, where 12 detainees were taken for treatment, and I spoke with one man who was so skinny and frail. He was getting IV fluids and getting tests. He was holding this piece of bread, but he said he really had no desire to eat. I spoke with the ER doctor there who was overseeing the care of the released prisoners, and he said all of them were malnourished and some showed signs of scars, bruising and healed broken bones. And we asked the Israeli prison officials about allegations of torture, and as they have previously, they denied any mistreatment.
LIMBONG: Well, who else were you able to talk to, and were there any prisoners who were expected to be released but weren't?
KAHN: Of the 250 Palestinians released who were serving these long or life sentences in Israeli prisons, 154 were deported immediately to countries abroad. I spoke to one family in Ramallah, who had gone to greet the bus to pick up their son, who'd been in Israeli prison convicted of murder, and he was in prison for 24 years. He was not on the bus. He was deported to Egypt. And his mother, Fatmeh Abu Daher, said she was crying from both joy and sadness.
FATMEH ABU DAHER: (Speaking Arabic).
KAHN: She kept thanking God that he was free, but she said she had no words to describe the pain in her heart for not seeing him today. The release of so many prisoners serving life sentences for murder of Israeli citizens has caused a lot of pain in Israel. It's become a common controversy, as this is the third large-scale prisoner hostage exchange during the two-year war in Gaza.
LIMBONG: NPR's Carrie Kahn. Carrie, thanks.
KAHN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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