Remember those Israeli hostages who were released before the current Israel/Hamas ceasefire, and their stories of being well-treated by Hamas? Here’s the flipside.

It seems that of the 150 Palestinians we were told would be released during the truce, which ends tomorrow (November 27, 2023), 78 have so far been released – in exchange for 26 hostages who were taken from Israel on October 7.

But the numbers seem to vary, depending on who you ask.

The BBC has been publishing the stories of some of the freed Palestinians, but these seem to be in very short supply in comparison with those of the freed Israelis.

What we’re hearing stands in stark contrast to the claims of Israel’s apologists on the social media, who claimed they were all convicted hardened criminals and terrorists.

Instead, the majority of those released so far had been held in administrative detention – some for many months. And those who have been convicted by Israeli courts seem to have been jailed for the most specious of reasons.

One such case is that of Israa Jaabis, imprisoned in Israel since 2015 because her car broke down.

Here‘s the BBC:

Her car broke down on a highway 1.5km (0.9 miles) from a checkpoint in the West Bank.

The reason for the breakdown is disputed. Israelis said back then it was an attempted car bombing but Arab media said the engine of her car failed causing a fire.

Jaabis sustained fire injuries in the accident and her face was badly burnt.

She was sentenced to 11 years in jail, of which she spent eight years before she was released.

Last year, Jaabis filed a request with the Israel Prisons Service for a nose job to repair the damage to her face, and was rejected.

Mohammad dar-Darwish, 17, was convicted by a military court of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers in April. He denies doing it. And how was he treated? Here‘s the BBC again:

After the 7 October attacks, Mohammad told me, guards took the blankets, cooking equipment, radios and televisions of Palestinian prisoners.

“They only gave us one portion of food between seven or eight people – we were always hungry. They couldn’t get to Gaza, so they punished us.”

Until his release, the only information about the war in Gaza came from new arrivals at the prison, he said.

He described people arriving in custody with fresh injuries: broken teeth, a badly bruised hand, and a large cut to the head that was left to heal untreated.

It’s a stark contrast to what we’ve been told by Israel’s spokespeople on the social media.

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