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Targeting Samidoun will not intimidate solidarity with Palestine — Jaldía Abubakra

Targeting Samidoun will not intimidate solidarity with Palestine
Jaldía Abubakra

Lorena Sopêna / Europa Press

While we are witnessing a genocide live, documented by its victims and displayed by its own perpetrators, there are media outlets and journalists who have the audacity to target those who organize for the freedom of Palestine. They turn the defense of prisoners into grounds for suspicion and provide a platform for those demanding that we be banned. In doing so, they contribute to the criminalization of solidarity and the justification of its persecution.

Our position is firm, clear and public: we defend the right of the Palestinian people to resist oppression and achieve their freedom, and we defend their prisoners. We will not apologize for this commitment. We organize events, publish our positions and openly build political relationships. They have discovered nothing: our activities and convictions are public.

The method of targeting is simple. Names, photographs, meetings and foreign sanctions are brought together; accusations from those who want to ban us are added, and everything is presented as proof of guilt. Sharing a platform, visiting a Palestinian organization or welcoming a released prisoner becomes suspicious. The accusation has been decided in advance, and every fact is recounted to reinforce it.

This is how Samidoun, Masar Badil, Alkarama and Al-Yudur are targeted. We share spaces, activities and activists because we organize for Palestine and build alliances. Each organization has its own history, positions and work. Collaboration among them expresses a political will that we openly embrace. No media outlet has the authority to decide our relationships or turn them into crimes through insinuation.

Even the vocabulary is familiar. In October 2024, the “Israeli” Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Spain as a “paradise for sowing hatred” because it hosted the Masar Badil congress. Now, the “Spanish paradise” reappears as a journalistic hook against Samidoun. The byline changes, but the approach remains the same: presenting Palestinian organizing and solidarity as a threat.

The question this narrative avoids is elementary: What must the Palestinian people do to liberate themselves? Does colonization exist or not? Does occupation exist or not? Then why are they denied the right to struggle against their subjugation? Must they entrust their freedom to the governments that supply “Israel” with weapons, funding and political protection?

The struggle of Algeria against French colonialism is studied, as is that of Vietnam, the struggle against South African apartheid, and the French resistance to Nazi occupation and Spanish resistance to Napoleonic occupation. Their reasons and objectives of liberation are recognized. When it comes to Palestine, certain media outlets replace that understanding with a label. They use the word “terrorism” to erase history and deny the political character of the Palestinian struggle.

We Palestinians have a voice, ideas and the capacity to organize. We are not here merely to appear in photographs of suffering or to repeat what others consider acceptable. We have the right to explain our history, defend our positions and build our future.

The defense of prisoners is part of that commitment. They are part of our people, our history and our struggle. We speak their names, tell their stories, listen to their testimonies and demand their freedom. We will not abandon them to gain the approval of those who would prefer that no one speak about them.

We organize meetings with released prisoners to hear about their experiences: captivity, organizing inside prisons, family separation and deportation. Those who present these meetings as celebrations of a massacre must substantiate that accusation with what was actually said and done there. A headline does not give them the right to determine the meaning of our activities.

The organizations that target us use accusations of antisemitism to discredit the defense of Palestinian rights and portray opposition to Zionism as hatred of Jews. We do not see them denouncing the massacres, the killing of children or the bombing of hospitals in Gaza with the same forcefulness with which they demand that we be banned. Their outrage is directed against those of us who denounce these crimes and organize to stop them. This double standard makes their political position clear.

We reject the identification of Jews with Israel’s decisions and the use of that identification to shield its government and military from criticism. Our struggle is directed against colonization, dispossession and the structures that sustain them. The accusation of antisemitism does not erase Israeli crimes or answer our denunciations.

Those demanding that Samidoun be banned are intervening with a political objective. Presenting them as unquestionable authorities allows them to accuse and pronounce judgment from a journalistic platform. The same occurs when United States sanctions are used as certification of guilt. We are speaking of Israel’s principal sponsor, a power directly involved in sustaining its policies. Reproducing its accusations without examining their basis turns the newspaper into a vehicle for transmitting them.

The servility of these media outlets can be judged by what they publish: the sources they choose, the facts they omit and the associations they construct. We know how they operate and decide whom we speak to. We have no obligation to grant interviews to media outlets we do not trust. Our positions are publicly available; refusing an interview does not prove concealment or authorize anyone to attribute intentions to us.

While there are servile organizations that side with the oppressor, many other courageous organizations and collectives maintain their solidarity with Palestine. They are aware of the attempts to target us, yet they still open their doors, organize gatherings, defend prisoners and publicly express their commitment. They act according to their own judgment, without granting a media outlet or a foreign government the authority to decide with whom they may organize.

That solidarity has roots in neighborhoods, trade unions, universities and social movements. It is built through sharing work, resources and experiences of struggle. It is sustained by people who recognize injustice and assume the responsibility to combat it. It is a collective force that we will continue to nurture and expand.

Those who seek to silence us and prevent us from exercising our freedoms of expression, assembly and organization will find us confronting them, united and organized. We will continue defending Palestinian prisoners, creating spaces for gathering and working for the liberation of our people. We will not ask permission or renounce our convictions to satisfy those who demand our silence.

Originally published in Diario Red.

Cancer patient and grandmother Amal Ghazi al-Rifi and her daughter Yasmin al-Rifi abducted by occupation forces in Gaza

Two Palestinian women from Gaza, Amal Ghazi al-Rifi, a cancer patient, & her daughter Yasmin Refaat al-Rifi, were abducted by Zionists at Rafah crossing returning to Gaza from medical care in Egypt on the evening of Tuesday, 20 October 2026.

This video features Amal’s grandson speaking about his missing grandmother. Amal and Yasmin were returning from medical treatment for Amal’s cancer in Gaza. The two were taken by occupation forces and are missing, and there is no information that has been revealed about their whereabouts.

Palestinians from Gaza are particularly in danger in the hands of the Zionist occupation forces — they are subjected to even worse mistreatment, torture and abuse. An elderly cancer patient is at particular danger in the hands of the occupation regime, where Palestinians are deliberately denied medical care or subjected to medical neglect and abuse.

International institutions such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization must intervene to identify the location of Amal and Yasmin al-Rifi and secure their immediate release.

FREE AMAL AND YASMIN AL-RIFI NOW!

Occupation forces display photos of Ibrahim Hamed in solitary confinement during invasion of Silwad, threatening Palestinian prisoners and detainees

Late last night and early this morning, 21 October 2026 in Silwad, in the West Bank of occupied Palestine, Zionist occupation forces stormed the village, invading and taking over Palestinian homes as military bases and conducting widespread field interrogations of dozens of Palestinians. During the interrogations and inside the occupied homes, they displayed and posted photos of imprisoned Palestinian leader Ibrahim Hamed being held in a solitary confinement cell.

The display of these photos is intended as a threat not only to the targeted Palestinians but also to Ibrahim Hamed himself, all Palestinian prisoners, and the Palestinian people as a whole. During the field interrogations, occupation soldiers reportedly openly threatened the imprisoned leader Hamed as well as directly threatening detained Palestinians in the village.

The leadership of the prisoners, including Hamed, Hassan Salameh, Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti, Abbas al Sayyed, Jamal Abu al-Haija, Mohammed Arman and others, are targeted for isolation and torture on an ongoing basis. They are denied legal visits, beaten by occupation prison guards, and held with no oversight in solitary confinement.

Imprisoning Ibrahim Hamed in a solitary confinement cell and displaying his photo does nothing to lessen his dignity, leadership, and courage. Instead, it makes clear that the Zionist regime is deeply frightened of his and his fellow imprisoned leaders’ vision, popularity, steadfastness and strength of will.

However, we must also be clear that this, like the invasion of imprisoned Palestinian leader Hassan Salameh‘s cell by fascist Zionist Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir several weeks ago, is not merely election propaganda, but a threat to the lives of the Palestinian prisoners, especially the imprisoned leaders. The use of the photo is further intended to spread fear and terror among the Palestinian masses under occupation and to use the lives and health of beloved imprisoned leaders as a tool to impose subordination upon the Palestinian people.

Ibrahim Hamed, from Silwad in the West Bank of occupied Palestine, is one of the most prominent political and resistance leaders of the Palestinian liberation movement currently imprisoned in occupation jails. Like other leadership figures, the Zionist regime has repeatedly refused to release him in a prisoner exchange with the resistance. He is serving 54 life sentences in occupation prisons, the second highest sentence of all Palestinian prisoners, for leading the Izz el-Din Al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank during the Second Intifada. His article on the Palestinian liberation movement, written in 2023, presents a powerful analysis of the situation of the struggle today.

The Zionist occupation, backed, armed and funded by the US, Britain, France, Canada, Germany and other imperialist powers, is fully responsible for the life and health of Ibrahim Hamed and all over 9200 Palestinian prisoners. We urge all international bodies, including the Committee Against Torture and the International Committee of the Red Cross to speak and act against these threats, for all third states to cut diplomatic relations with the occupation and impose a full two-way embargo on “Israel.” They have the responsibility to act to release Ibrahim Hamed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners from isolation and to secure immediate legal visits, particularly for Palestinians subjected to solitary confinement, isolation, repressive attack raids, and physical, sexual and psychological torture.

As the video reported in Arab and Palestinian news shows, the occupation forces pasted up dozens of these photos of Ibrahim Hamed in isolation around the homes they invaded, ransacked and occupied. We call upon people of conscience everywhere in the world to instead put up posters and images of Ibrahim Hamed, calling for his liberation, and his fellow Palestinian prisoners, in the streets of the cities of the world.

Further, we urge the international movement for Palestine to speak out, protest, take direct action, write, organize, and, most importantly, escalate to free Ibrahim Hamed, the over 9200 Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails, and Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Thamer Saba’aneh: Liberated Prisoners — Incomplete Freedom and Unending Persecution

This morning, 20 October 2026, Zionist occupation forces invaded Qabatiyeh, Jenin, and abducted Thamer Saba’aneh, Palestinian writer, educator and liberated prisoner, who has published multiple books and hundreds of articles about the experiences of Palestinian prisoners inside the occupation prisons. Over multiple arrests, he has spent over a decade inside Zionist jails; he has also been imprisoned on multiple occasions by the Palestinian Authority under “security coordination” with the occupation, most recently between January and March of 2026. He was last released from administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, in 2024. Meanwhile, his son Watan has also been repeatedly arrested by occupation forces, was detained by the PA under “security coordination” for 50 days as he was graduating high school, and was just released one month ago — 15 September — from a year in Zionist administrative detention without charge or trial that had blocked him from beginning his next educational journey in college. 

Just days ago, on 16 October, he published an article at Quds News Network discussing the situation of liberated prisoners and the constant, systematic attacks they face, including field arrests, house raids, attacks on their family members, and re-arrest. As always, his writing and scholarship on Palestinian prisoners is informed by his own lengthy history of imprisonment and struggle.

Free Thamer Saba’aneh and all Palestinian prisoners!

Liberated Prisoners: Incomplete Freedom and Unending Persecution

Thamer Sabaaneh
Friday, 16 October 2026
Original article – Quds News Network

The suffering of Palestinian prisoners does not end simply because they leave the occupation’s prisons, nor do the years of imprisonment and their psychological and physical effects disappear once they pass through the prison gates into freedom. At a time when liberated prisoners expect to reclaim their lives, reunite with their families, and begin the process of recovering from the experience of imprisonment, many instead find themselves facing another form of suffering, characterized by ongoing persecution, re-arrest, home raids, restrictions on livelihoods, and the targeting of their families and social circles.

The targeting of liberated prisoners cannot be viewed as a collection of separate security measures. Rather, it must be understood within a broader context that targets Palestinians in their freedom, dignity, and ability to reclaim their normal lives, transforming release from what should be a new beginning into another period of anxiety and instability.

Re-Arrest: Freedom in Limbo

The re-arrest of liberated prisoners constitutes one of the harshest practices, as liberated prisoners find themselves threatened with a return to their cells at any moment, even after having spent years of their lives behind bars. This practice becomes even more dangerous when release is accompanied by conditions, restrictions, or threats that make liberated prisoners feel that their freedom is temporary and that their lives outside prison lack the stability to which every human being should be entitled.

The effects of re-arrest are not limited to the targeted individual alone but extend to the family, which experiences imprisonment all over again, reliving the details of absence, fear, and waiting. The mother who embraced her son after years of separation, the wife who began rebuilding her life, and the children trying to get to know a father who has returned to them all find themselves facing the possibility of repeating the experience, with all the pain it entails.

Thus, release becomes a burdensome state of waiting, and the future is overshadowed by fear of the next raid, another summons, or a sudden arrest.

Home Raids and Destruction: Punishment Extends to the Family

Among the practices described by liberated prisoners and their families are home raids during the night or at dawn, extensive searches, the ransacking of their belongings and destruction of property, and the spread of fear among family members, including children and the elderly.

A home is not merely walls and furniture. It is a place of safety where liberated prisoners attempt to reclaim something of the lives that imprisonment has taken from them. When the home becomes a repeated target of raids, searches, and destruction, the impact extends beyond material losses to undermine the family’s sense of security and stability.

These practices become even more dangerous when they are repeated without any clear and proportionate legal necessity, or when accompanied by humiliation, intimidation, and the destruction of property. Legal accountability for any specific act must be based on evidence and fair procedures, not collective punishment or forcing family members to bear the consequences of one of their relatives’ past experiences.

Repeated Field Interrogations: Draining People’s Energy and Time

Persecution does not always end in arrest and transfer to prison. It may take the form of repeated summonses, detention during home raids, or subjecting liberated prisoners to hours of field interrogation before releasing them, only for the experience to be repeated later.

The danger of this pattern lies in the fact that it keeps people in a constant state of alert and makes them unable to plan their lives normally. Liberated prisoners attempting to maintain regular employment, oversee their children’s education, or establish a business may find themselves forced to abandon everything because of a sudden raid or another interrogation.

The repetition of these measures also leaves deep psychological scars, reviving memories of previous imprisonment and keeping families in a constant state of anticipation. Over time, fear of the unknown can become a daily burden that affects social relationships, employment, and mental health.

True freedom does not merely mean that a person is no longer inside prison. It also means being able to live without arbitrary persecution, permanent threats, or measures that lack legal safeguards.

Targeting the Family: When the Circle of Punishment Expands

One of the cruelest aspects of this suffering is the extension of persecution to the liberated prisoner’s family, whether through home raids, the interrogation of family members, intimidation, or pressure exerted in ways that affect their daily lives.

Palestinian families bear a double burden. They attempt to help liberated prisoners recover and reintegrate into society while simultaneously finding themselves forced to cope with the fear of renewed arrest, raids, and material and psychological losses.

Under these circumstances, family members may themselves become prisoners of the experience of imprisonment, even while remaining outside prison walls. Aspects of their daily lives are disrupted, their ability to plan for the future diminishes, and instability becomes part of their everyday reality.

Therefore, protecting liberated prisoners is inseparable from protecting their families and rejecting the subjection of relatives to any form of collective punishment or unlawful pressure because of their family ties.

Travel Bans and Restrictions on Movement: Closing Off the Future

Travel bans and restrictions on movement represent another form of pressure that may be used against liberated prisoners, preventing them from attending to personal, family, and professional matters and obstructing opportunities for medical treatment, education, or employment outside their areas of residence.

Liberated prisoners who have spent years in captivity need opportunities to rebuild their lives. They may need to travel to complete their studies, receive medical treatment, visit relatives, or build new professional futures. When movement is surrounded by restrictions and procedures, freedom remains incomplete, and liberated prisoners remain captive to circumstances that limit their choices and obstruct their reintegration into society.

Palestinian human rights reports confirm that some liberated prisoners face restrictions on movement and travel, repeated security summonses, and close surveillance, raising serious questions about respect for their fundamental rights and guarantees of freedom following their release.

Attacking Livelihoods: Targeting Economic Life

One of the most dangerous forms of restriction is the extension of persecution to liberated prisoners’ work and sources of income, through disrupting their employment, imposing restrictions on their businesses, confiscating their money, property, and vehicles, or taking measures that affect their ability to support their families.

After their release, many liberated prisoners attempt to begin again. One may open a shop, another may work in agriculture, establish a small business, or search for employment that provides a stable income. These steps may constitute an essential part of recovering from imprisonment and regaining economic and social independence.

But when these businesses are subjected to persecution, confiscation, or disruption, the harm affects not only the liberated prisoner but also their spouse, children, parents, and everyone who depends on their income.

Palestinian reports have documented cases involving the confiscation of money, vehicles, and property belonging to prisoners, liberated prisoners, and their families. These incidents require precise documentation of each case, identification of the legal basis for the measures taken, and guarantees of the right of those affected to object, appeal, and obtain redress.

Targeting livelihoods, when arbitrary or based on punishment for the experience of imprisonment or political affiliation, represents more than a financial loss. It threatens people’s ability to build stable lives and deepens the economic vulnerability of their families.

From Prison to Persecution: The Question of Freedom and Dignity

The picture emerging from these practices raises a fundamental question: What does freedom mean if liberated prisoners remain threatened with re-arrest, subjected to repeated raids, and persecuted in their work, movement, and family relationships?

The release of prisoners should mark the end of detention, not the beginning of a series of measures that keep them under constant pressure. Any security measure must also be subject to legal safeguards, based on specific and reviewable grounds, and must not become a means of collective punishment, revenge, or deprivation of fundamental rights.

This highlights the importance of the role of human rights and legal organizations, prisoners’ affairs institutions, and the media in documenting reported violations, following up on individual cases, providing legal, psychological, and social support to liberated prisoners and their families, and working to bring these issues before the relevant international bodies.

The responsibility of society is no less important. Supporting liberated prisoners in finding employment, assisting their families, embracing their children, and refusing to reduce their identities to their experiences of imprisonment are all practical steps that help them reclaim their place and role in society.

Liberated Prisoners: Entitled to a Life of Safety

Liberated prisoners should not remain trapped by their past, nor should years of imprisonment become a reason to deprive them of their future. They have the right to work, to travel in accordance with the law, to live with their families, to establish businesses, to plan for their children’s futures, and to regain a sense of security without the constant fear of experiencing imprisonment again.

The issue of liberated prisoners is not merely a matter concerning individuals whose ordeal ended when they left prison. It is a humanitarian and human rights issue concerning the meaning of freedom, justice, and human dignity. Any discussion of release remains incomplete if it does not address what some liberated prisoners face after their release, the pressures imposed on their families, and the threats to their livelihoods and futures.

Freedom is not a door that opens for a few moments, nor is it a release document handed to a prisoner exhausted by years of captivity. Freedom means being able to continue one’s life without arbitrary persecution, to find one’s home safe, one’s family reassured, one’s livelihood secure, and one’s future open.

Liberated prisoners need more than celebrations on the day of their release. They need a sustained commitment to protecting their rights, supporting their families, and providing opportunities for a dignified life. Our duty is not to leave them alone in the struggle that follows imprisonment, nor to allow the freedom they awaited for so long to become a new form of suffering outside prison walls.

Wafa’ al-Ahrar: Statements by the martyred leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar saluting the prisoner exchange

As we mark the 15th anniversary of the Wafa’ al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were liberated on 18 October and 18 December by the Palestinian resistance after the conclusion of an exchange agreement between Hamas and the Zionist regime, the relevance of the exchange and the commitment of the Resistance to the prisoners is just as prominent today.

We are republishing the statements of two of the great martyred leaders of the Palestinian people and their Resistance on the occasion of the exchange: Ismail Haniyeh, the martyred leader of the Hamas movement, who led the reception of thousands that greeted the liberated prisoners, and that of Yahya Sinwar, the martyred leader of the Hamas movement and one of the commanders of Al-Aqsa Flood, who was also one of the most prominent leadership prisoners released in the exchange. (Both are available in the original Arabic text at Al-Zaytouna Centre as part of its archive of key Palestinian documents from 2011.)

Below is also a brief clip of Sinwar after his liberation, interviewed by Al-Aqsa Radio:

“To proceed: this is one of God’s momentous days. This is a great victory, celebrated by our Palestinian people, celebrated by our nation, and celebrated by free people all across the world.

This is a day of great victory, and merely a herald and a prelude, God willing, for the entire world, to our victory when our brigades and legions march, alongside the legions of our nation and people, toward Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

 

Speech by Ismail Haniyeh on the Prisoner Exchange

18 October 2011

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Praise be to God, by whose grace good deeds are brought to completion, and prayers and peace be upon the leader of the mujahideen, his family, his companions, and all those who follow his path and adhere to his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment.

To the sons and daughters of our steadfast Palestinian people on the blessed land of Palestine, brothers and sisters, heroes of Palestine liberated from the prisons of the Zionist occupation:

On this occasion, at this moment of victory, at this strategic turning point in the nature of this conflict, we recall the words of God Almighty: “Indeed, He who ordained the Qur’an for you will surely bring you back to a place of return.”

God has returned these heroes, who had disappeared into the prisons for decades, so that they may return to their land and their families with dignity and honor, in a place of conquest and victory, before the eyes of all. Their feet tread upon the soil of free Gaza, upon the soil of proud Palestine.

Gaza, which was subjected to siege, war, killing, destruction, and assassinations so that we would abandon these brothers, so that we would bargain over the freedom of these heroes. But we said no, a thousand times no! We said: Death rather than humiliation, and death rather than bargaining over the freedom of the heroes.

Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of our Palestinian people everywhere: This is one of the days of God. It is God who has bestowed this victory, this sign, and this honor upon this proud people. It is God who preserved this path and protected the mujahideen. It is God Almighty who said: “And indeed, Our soldiers will surely be victorious.”

This is one of the days of God, because the beginning was for God and the end was for God. The beginning was for God when these heroic mujahideen of the Qassam Brigades and their brothers in the resistance factions that captured this soldier set out. When they moved, they moved for God and for this historic moment that the Palestinian people are experiencing. And the end was also for God.

Yes, we said it: It is for God, it is for God, not for authority or prestige.

Therefore, beloved brothers, today we must become more humble and more grateful to God. We must draw closer to God, and we must become more certain that whoever has God on his side cannot be defeated by any power on earth, nor can his faith or will be broken.

O Lord, O God, to You belongs all praise in this world and the Hereafter. O Lord, to You belongs all praise in this world and the Hereafter. You strengthened us, granted us patience, and fortified our hearts.

We carried hundreds of martyrs during the Battle of al-Furqan, indeed thousands of martyrs. We carried them on our shoulders and laid them to rest in the earth while they were searching for Shalit. But the war passed, the enemy retreated, Shalit remained in the hands of the mujahideen, and here we are today, achieving victory.

This is one of the days of Palestine. This is one of the days of Palestine because this deal, concluded by this faithful, struggling movement, Hamas, a source of pride and honor for this people, together with the other Palestinian resistance factions, was founded upon two fundamental commitments relating to the human being and the land.

First, it committed itself to ensuring that this exchange included members of the various Palestinian forces, factions, and political currents represented among the prisoners behind the occupation’s bars.

This movement, supported by this government, did not proceed from a narrow vision, nor from a partisan or factional perspective. In its difficult negotiations, it did not concern itself solely with the sons of Hamas or the sons of the Qassam Brigades. Rather, it proceeded from a position of moral values.

We put our disagreements behind us for the sake of these heroes. We put our disagreements behind us and set aside our divisions for the sake of these heroes.

Thus, among those liberated were members of Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front, FIDA, the Popular Resistance, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, Fatah al-Intifada, and the various currents across the political spectrum.

This exchange therefore demonstrated an important practical lesson on the ground: that this people is one people, and that in times of adversity and hardship, leaders of moral principle rise to preserve this trust, the trust placed in them regarding the Palestinian human being.

Yes, we refused, and the Hamas negotiator, supported by the sons and daughters of this people, refused to sign the agreement while leaving behind members of the various political currents.

For us, the sons of Fatah were like the sons of Hamas, and the sons of Hamas were like the sons of Islamic Jihad and the other factions.

And yes, brothers, it did not stop there. This exchange, on the basis of national, humanitarian, and popular principles, also extended to the release of a struggling brother sentenced to three life terms, one of our Palestinian Christian brothers living in occupied Jerusalem. He is now among us. One of our Christian brothers, who had been sentenced, was included in this exchange by the grace of God Almighty.

The first message is the message of one people. The second principle is that of one land and one Palestine.

Brothers, this exchange was not limited to the people of Gaza or the prisoners of Gaza, even though Gaza paid the entire price. And that price is small for the sake of God, small in the path of God, small for the dignity of this people, and small for the freedom of these heroes.

Rather, the exchange included Gaza, the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem, the territories of 1948, and even extended to the occupied Arab Syrian Golan.

Yes, brothers, this exchange has once again drawn the map of Palestine’s borders. At a time when political activity is taking place in one institution or another concerning the definition of Palestine, this exchange came to declare: The borders of Palestine are the borders of this exchange.

Yes, brothers, mujahideen, this exchange, this victory, also included our women prisoners. And those whose names emerged in the final hours were followed up by the negotiating brothers together with our brothers in Egypt.

At the forefront of the women prisoners is our struggling sister Ahlam al-Tamimi, sentenced to 16 life terms. And here are women prisoners who have arrived in proud Gaza: our sister Wafa al-Bis, one of the women prisoners of the Palestinian people, along with several other sisters.

Yes, honorable brothers, this exchange means that today is, in every sense, a Palestinian day.

Imagine, young people, brothers, sons and daughters of our Palestinian people everywhere: Imagine that it included 320 prisoners and heroes sentenced to life imprisonment. Today they are coming out and living among us, by the grace of God Almighty.

As for the remaining prisoners, they had long sentences of no less than twenty or thirty years. These brothers are of different ages and had received different sentences and endured different circumstances inside these unjust prisons.

This is one of the days of God. This is one of the days of Palestine. And this is one of the days of resistance, of the blessed project of resistance on the land of Palestine, this realistic strategic choice.

Yes, through resistance we liberated the land and liberated Gaza, and through resistance we liberate the heroic human being who entered prison for our sake, for our dignity, and for Palestine and Jerusalem.

Today resistance manifests itself in its most magnificent form: its steadfastness, its capacity to maneuver, and its ability to hold this soldier for more than five years in a small geographical area called Gaza, a place without hills or caves, exposed to every Zionist and other intelligence and surveillance apparatus.

Yet this resistance, these Qassam Brigades who are a source of pride and honor, proved trustworthy. They rose to the demands of the moment and the level of their responsibility.

Indeed, an Israeli newspaper today, I believe it was Yedioth Ahronoth, said that Shalit’s handover was carried out through a complex security maneuver that the Israeli intelligence services were unable to track.

God is greatest, and praise be to God!

God is greatest, young people, mujahideen, factions that captured the soldier, members of the Qassam Brigades! How great you were at every stage!

Even the young people, the guards, the one who brings water, and those whom we do not know and of whom we have no knowledge — God knows them. I salute them.

Indeed, honorable brothers, I kiss the hands of the honorable members of the Palestinian resistance on this blessed land. I kiss the hands of the Qassam members who hold their fingers upon the triggers, and we kiss their foreheads that prostrate themselves before God, and their eyes that kept watch for the sake of God.

Glory to you, members of the Qassam Brigades, heroes!

Brothers and sisters, we in the Palestinian government, from our position of serving the cause and the people, may not have been directly involved in following this file, since it was essentially an organizational matter pursued by Hamas, this faithful movement, and its sister factions that captured the soldier.

But, beloved brothers, we know with absolute certainty that numerous local and foreign parties tried, by every possible means, to seize or recover this captive soldier without anything in return, or in exchange for a paltry price.

There were those who said that what Hamas had done was an adventure. But I say to them today, at this moment of victory, that this procession and these heroes are worth every adventure undertaken to break their chains and return them to Palestine.

Brothers and sisters, O people, in this national celebration, on this national day, there is joy in Gaza, joy in the West Bank, joy in Jerusalem, joy in the occupied territories, and celebrations in the refugee camps.

And I say to you, honorable brothers and sisters, that the sons and daughters of the Arab and Islamic nation are sharing with you this great national and Islamic celebration.

Indeed, beyond that, the joy of this day is the joy of all the free people of the world. The joy of this day is the joy of all the free people of the world, of all those who reject injustice and refuse oppression.

Yes, it is a Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic joy.

And to emphasize this Arab and Islamic dimension, I have spoken over the past days with many personalities, leaders, and scholars. They all agreed that what has taken place is a great achievement and a major victory for the people of Palestine, for the peoples of the Arab nation, the Arab revolutions, and the Arab Spring.

His Eminence Muhammad Badie, General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, told me when he graciously called to congratulate me in the very first moments after the agreement was announced:

“Brother Abu al-Abd, you and all the people and your brothers — this is the first joy we have truly felt in our hearts since the Nakba, since Palestine was usurped.”

Brothers and sisters, I will conclude with two important lessons from what has taken place.

The first is that those who are patient, steadfast, unwavering, and committed to their principles, those who endure for the sake of God and the homeland, will see the fruits of all this work and steadfastness in victory and national achievement.

Your patience has not been in vain, and the blood of the martyrs has not been in vain, including the martyrs of this blessed operation.

Your patience, people of Gaza, your steadfastness in the face of the destruction of homes upon their inhabitants, the destruction of ministries and the Legislative Council, and the displacement of thousands, have never been in vain.

This is a great lesson: patience and steadfastness always yield great results commensurate with these sacrifices.

The second lesson is that the possibility of defeating Israel is a realistic possibility. Israel is now paying the price.

They themselves say it, and their newspapers say it: Israel today is defeated, while Hamas is victorious, and the people and their leadership are victorious.

Look, brothers, at the signs of God: This achievement comes at a time when the occupation enjoys every form of international support. And from the heart of besieged and persecuted Gaza, from this position of weakness, came strength and victory.

These are the signs of God: “How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allah.”

Brothers, brave people of Gaza, among the heroic prisoners returning to us — and I do not call them those deported from the West Bank to Gaza, for this is one homeland — among these brothers are approximately 165 from the West Bank and Jerusalem who have come here to the beloved land of Gaza.

I say to the hospitable people of Gaza: Place them in your hearts and in the pupils of your eyes. Do as the Ansar did for the Muhajirun.

Our hearts are open to them, for they are our family, our people, and the leaders of this people. They entered the prisons for our sake.

The government, God willing, will fulfill its duty to the utmost. But let the people of Gaza demonstrate their authenticity in hospitality, embracing these heroes, generosity, and fulfilling their obligations toward them.

Yes, brothers, I extend my greetings to those among these heroic prisoners who have been deported outside the land of Palestine, and I pray to God that He will honor them with a return to the land of Palestine.

And I say, as my concluding words, that thanks and appreciation are due to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Egypt of the revolution, the Egypt that led the negotiations from its position as sponsor, closely connected to the will of the Egyptian people and the will of the Egyptian revolution.

They were faithful to their responsibilities at this stage. They rose to the stature and standing of great Egypt, as a leader and pioneer, protected by God Almighty.

In the name of all our people, we send greetings to Egypt, with thanks and appreciation to Egyptian intelligence, to the Field Marshal, to the negotiating team, and to everyone who worked to bring about this honorable moment.

And I say to my brothers, the leaders inside the prisons, and to all our prisoners: “The eyes of cowards shall never sleep.”

We will not forget you, heroes. Your release is a debt upon the shoulders of the Palestinian people.

“And they say, ‘When will it be?’ Say, ‘Perhaps it is near.'”

The brothers have made numerous contacts with the wives of the imprisoned leaders, Abdullah Barghouthi, Marwan Barghouthi, Ahmad Sa’adat, Ibrahim Hamed, Abbas al-Sayyed, and others.

They said that this exchange and the national achievement it brought about, and the freedom it secured for these heroes, constitute an exchange worthy of respect and reverence.

And we say to them: These leaders will remain a trust upon the shoulders of the Palestinian people, and the day will come when the siege imposed upon these heroes will be broken.

Greetings to the negotiating team that conducted dozens, indeed hundreds, of sessions until reaching this moment./

I say to them: May God reward you on our behalf with the greatest reward. May God reward you on behalf of the Muslims with the greatest reward.

This is a new model of negotiation, and this is a new Palestinian model, with a clear beginning and end.

Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

Speech by Prisoner Yahya Sinwar on the Prisoner Exchange 

18 October 2011

Praise be to God, and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of God.

Peace be upon you, O chosen ones among God’s creation. And I do not exaggerate, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in the hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Hawala, the sacred hadith narrated by our Messenger, peace be upon him:

“O Syria, O Syria, My hand is upon you, O Syria. You are My chosen land among My lands; within you I shall place the best of My servants.”

It is therefore no wonder that I address you by saying: Peace be upon you, O chosen ones of God’s finest creation. Peace be upon you, O chosen community.

“There shall always remain a group from my nation steadfast upon the truth, patient and victorious over their enemy.”

And where are they, O Messenger of God? In Jerusalem and the surroundings of Jerusalem.

God is greatest, O Gaza! God is greatest, O Gaza Strip! God is greatest, O Palestine!

God is greatest! We left you wounded and bleeding under the claws of occupation, in the early years of the First Intifada, and we have returned to you, by the grace of God Almighty, as a mighty giant, a force to be reckoned with.

Peace be upon you, beloved ones, and peace be upon you, virtuous women.

Allow me, brothers, for it was not long ago that we parted from our very hearts and left them behind in the prisons. We left our hearts behind. We left the very essence of our hearts. We left our souls behind.

Yes, we left behind Mahmoud Issa, the Qassam commander who kidnapped the soldier Toledano in an attempt to liberate Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.

We left behind Hassan Salameh, who inflicted pain upon the enemy and taught it lessons it would not forget.

We left behind many leaders of the Qassam Brigades, of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, of the Al-Quds Brigades, and of all the factions.

We left so many behind. By God, we came out feeling that we had left our hearts behind.

But these words, brothers, cannot in any way diminish this immense historic and strategic achievement in the history of our people, our revolution, and our resistance.

This is the first time that a prisoner exchange deal has been concluded within the Palestinian homeland, on Palestinian land, and on such a scale.

It is the first time that such a number of these brothers has been released, both in quantity and in the importance of those freed.

Among them are those whom the occupation believed it could subdue and destroy in its prisons. The occupation believed that through its oppression and tyranny it could destroy our will. It imagined that it could break our determination.

But we transformed the cells of its prisons into schools and academies that teach, train, and prepare for the decisive battle.

This is a great victory achieved by our people, achieved by the resistance, achieved by our victorious brigades, God Almighty willing.

And despite its greatness, we regard it as no more than one of the glad tidings that God Almighty sends us to strengthen our hearts and make us certain that we have an appointment with these great formations, these brigades, when they gather in the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the very near future, God willing.

As we celebrate this great national occasion, we must never forget those martyrs who planted the first seeds, those who planted the first seeds of resistance, jihad, and confrontation with the enemy, and particularly those who planted those first seeds within our own hearts.

We cannot abandon our prisoners.

Yes, brothers, on this occasion we cannot fail to remember our late Sheikh, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.

Brothers, I say this in my own name, in the name of the prisoners who have been liberated, and even in the name of those who have not yet been liberated, but for whom this tremendous exchange has opened the prospect of freedom.

I say on behalf of all of them that we owe a debt to those martyrs who fell in the Dispelled Illusion operation, and to all those who subsequently gave their lives along this path.

Brothers, we owe our freedom to every mother who left her child suffering from hunger when the occupation imposed its siege on the Gaza Strip.

We owe our freedom to every child who suffered while waiting for a dose of medicine, to every patient, to every mother, to every father, to every young person and every elderly person.

We are indebted to all of you, to every person in Gaza, and indeed to everyone who stood in solidarity with us.

We owe you our freedom and this great victory.

May God bless you and reward you on our behalf with every goodness, and with the greatest reward, God willing, Lord of the Worlds.

And from here, I call upon all the leaders of the Palestinian resistance factions, and I mention in particular the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, to take upon themselves the responsibility of liberating the remaining prisoners in the very near future.

This must be transformed into a practical plan, whose implementation begins immediately and for which the necessary resources are allocated without delay.

Our enemy, brothers, can only find itself caught between the hammer and the anvil in such matters.

Either it pays the price demanded by the resistance in exchange for the prisoners it holds in our hands, or it destroys fundamental principles upon which its existence rests, principles that we call internal mutual support and solidarity, without which it would easily disintegrate and collapse.

I call upon everyone who has the ability to participate in this endeavor to extend their hand and take part.

And I call upon the masses of our people, our nation, and all the free people of the world to rise in support of the Palestinian prisoners.

Prisoners are frequently subjected to attacks that endanger their lives and violate their rights.

Beloved brothers and sisters, I must not fail to extend my thanks to everyone who participated in this great achievement, the political leadership and the military leadership.

I mention in particular my beloved brothers, Prime Minister Abu al-Abd, and all the other brothers.

Special thanks to our brothers in Egypt, the Egypt of revolution and pride, the Egypt we have always known and always wished to see occupying its rightful place as a leader.

We told the Egyptian negotiator and mediator: We Palestinians love the Egypt of revolution. We love the Egypt of dignity and defiance. We love the Egypt that is stepping forward to assume its role in leading the Arab nation toward the attainment of its rights.

Brothers, may God bless you, and thank you very much for this warm and generous welcome.

We have an appointment soon, God willing, at Al-Aqsa and in its courtyards.

By God, besides whom there is no deity, their entity is far too insignificant and weak for our nation to be unable to defeat it.

Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

 

Glory to the martyr: Liberated prisoner Abdullah al-Zeitawi assassinated by Zionist occupation in Gaza

On Monday, 19 October, Zionist genocidal occupation forces continued the campaign of assassinations targeting liberated prisoners, especially those freed by the Resistance in prisoner exchanges. Abdullah Mohammed Mahmoud al-Zeitawi, liberated 15 years ago by the Resistance in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange was assassinated today by a Zionist airstrike in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City.

Al-Zeitawi is from the village of Jamma’in south of Nablus in the West Bank of occupied Palestine. He grew up during the great popular Intifada launched in 1987 and left school in 1991 to work as a driver. As the second, Al-Aqsa Intifada developed, he joined the struggle for the liberation of Palestine and the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement. He worked together with a secret group that included his fellow strugglers, Mohammed Aziz and Ihsan al-Safadi.

“My love for freedom stems from being Palestinian. I love and cherish it. When I was fourteen, the First Intifada was raging, and I witnessed the destruction and killing perpetrated by the occupation against my land and my people, and my heart ached with pain,” he said in an interview with Quds Net upon his liberation. “With the start of the Second Intifada, stones were no longer enough because you wanted to defend your land, so the response became fire for fire, weapon for weapon. That’s when my love for Palestine began to grow even stronger.” 

He was arrested by the occupation on 23 August 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 15 years by a Zionist military court for his involvement in a resistance operation on 7 August 2001 that killed an occupation settler and retired military officer on the highway near the quarries outside Jamma’in. “When the prison doors closed, a person didn’t enter a prison; they entered a grave. It was over. The only thing you could see was a small glimpse on television—streets and people—but you couldn’t see or feel the hearts and feelings of the people affected by the prisoners,” he said.

While he was imprisoned, his mother died in September 2010, shortly after expressing her longing to see him free, telling him “I want to hug you outside your prison and rejoice with you as a groom being led to your bride.” These were the last words they shared, al-Zaytawi said upon his release, saying that his “heart ached for her because he had not been able to hug her even for a single moment during his entire imprisonment.” He was denied family visits entirely between 2001 and 2005.

“I used to worry about my mother and father when they came to visit because they are elderly and suffer greatly during their visits, especially given the harassment they face from Israel. During Ramadan, and in both summer and winter, I would ask them not to come for their safety,” he recalled. “You speak to them through glass, and the connection is constantly interrupted because the occupation forces monitor our conversations. The hardest part is when their tears fall, and I can’t wipe them away.”

He was liberated on 18 October 2011 in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange and forcibly transferred to Gaza, denied return to Nablus. “Nablus was the focus of the confrontation with the occupation, especially on the bypass roads in its streets where settlers were present. It also has a large number of Palestinian resistance groups of all stripes,” he said.

Upon his arrival in Gaza, he said that Nablus was “his mother and his hope,” while expressing the warmth he felt upon their reception among the liberated prisoners. “In prison, I used to see Gaza, but when I entered it, what I witnessed was beyond imagination. The joy in the eyes of its people and the reception we received from Rafah to Gaza was something we never expected, something even heads of state wouldn’t dream of. All the factions shared our joy, and frankly, I can’t describe it.”

He saluted the resistance and celebrated the Wafa’ al-Ahrar victory, “Today is a day of victory for all Muslims, especially the people of Palestine, the families of the martyrs, the wounded, the prisoners, and the resistance fighters who captured Shalit.”

Today, almost exactly 15 years later, occupation forces assassinated him as part of a policy of systematic targeting of liberated prisoners, intended to destroy Palestinian revolutionary leadership and continuity. The martyrs of Al-Aqsa Flood among the Wafa’ al-Ahrar prisoners include prominent leaders originally from Gaza such as Yahya Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha as well as those forcibly transferred to Gaza, including Fursan Khalifa, Abdul-Aziz Salha, Bassam Abu Sneineh, Ali al-Sarafiti, Khaled al-Najjar, and, most recently, Farah Hamed, among at least 33 martyrs of the exchange.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Movement salutes the martyr and all of the martyrs of the prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian people. The liberated prisoners represent the continuity of struggle, as generation after generation fights for total liberation. Whether inside or outside prison, Abdullah al-Zeitawi represented the prisoners’ movement and struggle for the liberation of Palestine. As the prisoners inside occupation prisons are targeted by the prisoners’ execution law as well as ongoing assassinations carried out through torture and the denial of medical care, the liberated prisoners are being targeted for assassination in an effort to expedite the genocide and deprive the Palestinian people of their leaders and defenders.

Every imperialist power that continues to arm, fund and support the Zionist regime — including the United States, France, Germany, Britain, and Canada  — is responsible for these ongoing crimes in full. They continue to allow the Zionist entity to violate the “ceasefire” on a daily basis and provide cover for its crimes, as well as weaponry and intelligence sharing. We urge all supporters of Palestine to act, confront those responsible, and escalate all actions to bring the continuing genocide to an end, impose accountability on those responsible, free all Palestinian prisoners — and, fundamentally, defeat and dismantle zionism and the zionist regime, for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

Solidarity with Tom Martin, facing repression by the French state

Tom Martin, an anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist activist in Toulouse, is being subjected to repression by the French state.

On 7 October 2026, at 6 a.m., officers of the RAID (the equivalent of the GEO in the Spanish state), armed with military-grade weapons, broke down the door of his home, searched it, and seized his books, computer, and phone. Our comrade was detained for 12 hours and even subjected to psychiatric examinations.

The reason? A Facebook post that he allegedly shared on 7 October 2023, which supposedly constituted “glorification of terrorism.”

The state’s classic accusation!

Once again, solidarity with the Palestinian people is being criminalized, in an attempt to equate support for their legitimate resistance with terrorism.

Unfortunately, Tom’s case is not an isolated one: hundreds of people in France have suffered the same treatment. In 2024 alone, nearly 1,000 cases were opened on charges of glorification of terrorism over similar matters.

Activists are persecuted for their opinions, while organizations are dissolved and outlawed. Indeed, the “Collectif Palestine Vaincra,” of which Tom was a member, was dissolved by the French state.

This repression exposes France’s complicity with Israel and its determination to silence those who denounce colonialism and genocide against the Palestinian people. This complicity also implicates the Spanish state, which must end all forms of cooperation with Israel and stop contributing to impunity for its crimes.

Samidoun and the Barcelona Anti-Repression Platform strongly condemn the repression suffered by our comrade and express our full solidarity with him.

We share below our comrade’s words following his detention:

“Three years later, one thing must be remembered: these searches, these detentions, and these trials are a microscopic drop in the ocean compared to what the Palestinian people have endured through three years of genocide in Gaza and 78 years of settler colonialism in Palestine.

Now more than ever, we must all unite to confront this criminalization. Now more than ever, our mobilization must be directed, above all, toward the Palestinian people struggling for their liberation and the liberation of their land, from the river to the sea.

And let us be clear about one thing: solidarity is our greatest weapon!

Palestine vivra! Palestine vaincra!

Palestinian Women Prisoners Under Attack: Bushra al-Tawil isolated for 50 days as occupation forces invade women’s cells

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the escalating attacks on Palestinian women prisoners in Zionist occupation prisons, including repeated violent raids, beatings, gas attacks, forced removal of hijab, solitary confinement and isolation, medical neglect and deliberate humiliation. These systematic attacks are targeting the approximately 90 Palestinian women imprisoned for their journalism, advocacy, student organizing, and commitment to their families, land, people and their liberation.

Bushra al-Tawil, 33, Palestinian journalist, has been held in isolation for approximately 50 consecutive days. She is jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention orders repeatedly renewed since February 2026 and was renewed for another four months just last week. Today, the Prisoners’ Media Office further documented that occupation forces have subjected women prisoners in Damon Prison to repeated violent invasions of their cells, using tear gas, stun grenades, physical assaults, forced removal of hijab, and solitary confinement as instruments of repression.

Bushra al-Tawil: From Wafa al-Ahrar to 50 days of isolation, abuse and deprivation

Bushra al-Tawil’s current imprisonment is only the latest chapter in a long history of repeated arrests, administrative detention and persecution targeting both her and her family. From al-Bireh near Ramallah, she is a Palestinian journalist who has devoted much of her work to documenting the experiences of Palestinian prisoners and their families.

She was first arrested on 6 July 2011, when she was only 18 years old, and sentenced to 16 months in occupation prisons. After serving approximately five months, she was liberated on 18 December 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange achieved by the Resistance, in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Since that time, she has been repeatedly targeted by the occupation for arrest, particularly under administrative detention without charge or trial. On 2 July 2014, she was rearrested alongside other liberated prisoners from the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange. The occupation’s military courts reimposed the remainder of her previous sentence, forcing her to serve another ten and a half months in prison before her release on 17 May 2015. Dozens of prisoners released in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange were subjected to this arbitrary reimposition of their sentences, with those with life sentences freed only in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange of 2025.

Beginning in 2017, Bushra was subjected to repeated administrative detention orders, imprisoning her without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence. She was arrested in November 2017 and held for eight months, then arrested again in December 2019 and subjected to another administrative detention order. She was rearrested in November 2020 and held for approximately 11 months without charge or trial.

Her journalism and work in support of Palestinian prisoners have been central to her persecution. Bushra has recounted that occupation intelligence officers explicitly objected to her reporting on prisoners and their families, telling her that her work drew attention to the prisoners’ cause. In 2019, an occupation officer reportedly told her father that the reason for her arrest was her “loud voice.”

Her father, Sheikh Jamal al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas leader, former mayor of al-Bireh and longtime Palestinian prisoner, has himself spent many years in occupation prisons and is currently held in occupation prisons under administrative detention. In 2021, while imprisoned under administrative detention, he launched a hunger strike demanding an end to Bushra’s imprisonment. His strike continued for 29 days, placing his own health and life at risk in defense of his daughter’s freedom.

Bushra was finally released on 5 October 2021, following her father’s hunger strike. She later described their reunion inside the prison as a moment that carried the taste of victory, emphasizing the role of her father’s struggle in securing her liberation.

Yet her freedom was once again short-lived. She was rearrested in March 2022 and subjected to another 6 months in administrative detention. She was subsequently imprisoned again amid the occupation’s mass arrest campaigns following Al-Aqsa Flood in early 2024.

In January 2025, Bushra was once again liberated in the first stage of the Toufan al-Ahrar prisoner exchange between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation, alongside other Palestinian women prisoners. However, just over one year later, on 5 February 2026, occupation forces rearrested her at a military checkpoint near Ramallah. She was transferred to the Moskobiya interrogation center and subsequently to Damon Prison, where she was once again placed under administrative detention without charge or trial.

Today, Bushra faces an especially severe campaign of isolation, abuse and deprivation.

She has been transferred repeatedly between isolation facilities. Initially isolated in Damon Prison, she was subsequently transferred to isolation cells in Neve Tirza before being moved to the Ohalei Oz isolation cells in occupied Bir al-Saba, where she remains imprisoned.

She has been subjected to repeated assaults inside her isolation cell, including beatings, the spraying of gas, constant verbal abuse and round-the-clock camera surveillance. During the transfer, two jailers dragged her to the ground inside a room without cameras and beat her in the head with metal shackles, causing swelling on the right side of her head. She was left shackled for two hours after the assault, held in a very hot cell resembling a sauna, amid a deterioration in her psychological state.

Bushra is suffering from scabies and constant pain in her shoulder after being beaten during the repressive attack on the women in Damon prison on 17 August. She was also subjected to verbal abuse by notorious racist Zionist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, while he was surrounded by heavily armed special occupation forces.

The repeated transfers have also obstructed access to legal representation. On 4 October, Bushra was made to sign documents indicating that she would be returned to Damon Prison, only to discover that she was instead being transferred to another isolation facility.

Her health has deteriorated severely. She suffers from dryness of the eyes, skin and hands, as well as numbness in her hands resulting from prolonged shackling. Before being placed in isolation, she had contracted scabies, a disease that has been deliberately allowed and encouraged to spread among Palestinian prisoners amid overcrowding, deprivation of hygiene supplies and systematic medical neglect.

Bushra has reported receiving insufficient food and being forced to drink discolored, yellowish tap water. She has been denied adequate clothing and the ability to wash her clothes. Her mattress and blanket are filthy and inadequate, leaving her feeling as though she is sleeping directly on the floor.

Despite her prolonged isolation and deteriorating health, the occupation renewed Bushra’s administrative detention for another four months in October, continuing her imprisonment without charge or trial.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Bloc issued a statement calling upon international bodies, particularly international journalists’ federations, to intervene to protect the life and rights of Bushra al-Tawil, to “check on the health and psychological condition of prisoner Bushra al-Tawil, and to work to end her isolation, ensure her protection from attacks, and release her immediately.”

The Bloc also “called on media and press institutions to shed light on Al-Tawil’s case and not allow their voices to be ignored or left to face isolation and detention alone. Freedom of the press and the dignity of journalists are indivisible, and protecting Palestinian journalists is a legal, humanitarian and moral responsibility.”

Women prisoners subjected to violent repressive attacks and collective punishment

The attack on Bushra al-Tawil is part of a comprehensive assault against imprisoned Palestinian women, which mirrors the violent systematic attacks on male prisoners in the occupation jails, including a particularly severe escalation in attacks on Palestinian women prisoners at Damon Prison on 7 and 8 October 2026.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, occupation forces raided the women’s section three times on 7 October alone, repeatedly searching their cells and using tear gas and stun grenades, causing numerous women to suffer suffocation.

Women prisoners were dragged into the prison yard, handcuffed, shouted at and insulted, and forced to lie face down while occupation forces filmed them.

In one particularly degrading incident, prison authorities ordered women prisoners to undo their braided hair, treating their hairstyles as grounds for punishment. Fifteen women were subsequently transferred to isolation.

Additional testimony reported by the Prisoners’ Media Office describes prison guards forcibly lifting women’s hijabs to inspect their hair, arbitrarily isolating 17 women, and assaulting women by striking their legs.

The attacks continued on 8 October, when occupation forces used pepper spray against women prisoners, including inside their cells and shower facilities. One attack reportedly affected a cell holding 15 women, with gas spreading to neighboring cells and causing vomiting and respiratory distress. Women were beaten in the prison courtyards and then forced to lie on the ground for an hour in their cells full of tear gas.

Elderly prisoners were particularly affected. One woman had to be carried by her fellow prisoners, while another was unable to walk. A pregnant prisoner was reportedly exposed to gas and subsequently transferred to the prison clinic.

These assaults are accompanied by the deliberate destruction of prisoners’ living conditions, including the scattering of food and rubbish onto mattresses and the disruption of their already severely restricted access to hygiene and basic necessities.

Freedom for Bushra al-Tawil and all Palestinian women prisoners!

Samidoun emphasizes that the attacks on Palestinian women prisoners are part of the broader system of colonial imprisonment, torture and repression directed against the Palestinian people. They cannot be separated from the genocide in Gaza, the ongoing attacks upon the Palestinian people throughout occupied Palestine and in exile and diaspora, and the violent and brutal repression directed at the Palestinian liberation movement, with the prisoners at the core. These attacks are also part of the same system that routinely abuses, tortures, and assaults thousands of Palestinian men in the occupation jails.

The prolonged isolation of Bushra al-Tawil, the violent attacks on women in Damon Prison, and the systematic denial of medical care demand urgent international attention and action.

Samidoun calls for an immediate end to the isolation of Bushra al-Tawil and all women prisoners, access to independent medical care, protection from further assaults, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist occupation prisons.

We further emphasize the responsibility of international institutions, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to act in response to the documented abuses against Palestinian women prisoners, rather than allowing these practices to continue without effective intervention.

The governments that continue to arm, finance and politically protect the Zionist occupation bear responsibility for enabling the system of imprisonment and abuse. Their expressions of concern cannot conceal their material and political complicity.

We urge Palestinian communities, solidarity organizations, women’s movements, trade unions, student organizations and anti-imperialist forces internationally to support campaigns like Dismantle Damon to raise the voices of Palestinian women prisoners, organize protests and public actions, take direct action against arms manufacturers and other complicit parties, and demand an end to the torture, isolation and abuse taking place behind prison walls, an end to the genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, and a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

Loyalty to the Free: 15 years on the Wafa’ al-Ahrar Prisoner Exchange

“Our Al-Aqsa, our prisoners, our return — these are the horizons along whose paths we move.”

— The martyred leader Ahmad “Abu Mohammed” al-Ja’bari, lead architect of the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange.

18 October 2026 marks the 15th anniversary of the Wafa’ al-Ahrar (Loyalty to the Free) Exchange, the monumental Palestinian prisoner exchange agreement achieved by the Palestinian resistance, in which 1027 Palestinians were liberated in exchange for captive Zionist occupation soldier Gilad Shalit. Among those liberated in the exchange were Yahya Sinwar, Nael Barghouti, Rawhi Mushtaha, Fakhri Barghouti, Ahlam Tamimi, Ayman Sharawna, Hana Shalabi, Zaher Jabarin, Bushra al-Tawil, Ali al-Amoudi, Tawfiq Abu Naim, Jaser Barghouti, Salah Hammouri, and Tariq Izzedine. This exchange once again proved that the most reliable means of liberating Palestinian prisoners is through an exchange, as well as the importance of liberated prisoners in developing and strengthening the Palestinian resistance and revolution both behind bars and after their liberation.

The liberated prisoners were freed in two groups — the first, of 477 prisoners, on 18 October 2011, and the second, of 550 prisoners, two months later on 18 December 2011. Among the first set of 477 prisoners released, they included 133 from the Gaza Strip, 290 from the West Bank, 46 from Jerusalem, one from the Golan Heights and 7 from occupied Palestine ’48. Of these, 133 were returned home to Gaza, 132 to the West Bank, including 14 to Jerusalem, one to the Golan Heights, and 6 to occupied Palestine ’48. Among the others, 164 were forcibly transferred to the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, Jerusalem, and occupied Palestine ’48, while 41 were forcibly exiled outside Palestine. The Palestinian prisoners were from all political trends, organizations and movements, including Hamas, Fateh, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They included women and men, prominent national leaders, the longest-held Palestinian prisoner (Nael Barghouti), fighters of the Intifada, and grassroots community organizers.

The reception in Gaza welcoming the liberated prisoners was massive, bringing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into the streets in a celebration of freedom, resistance and national unity. The images of liberated prisoners stepping off buses, embracing their families and fellow fighters, and speaking before enormous crowds has been etched into the collective memory of the Palestinian people. In the West Bank, Jerusalem and throughout Palestine and the diaspora, families celebrated the return of loved ones who had spent years and decades behind bars. The exchange represented not only the liberation of 1,027 individuals, but a victory for the Palestinian resistance, the prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian people as a whole.

The prisoners liberated in Wafa’ al-Ahrar were not simply returning home after long years of suffering. They brought with them decades of political experience, organization, education, collective struggle and revolutionary commitment forged inside the occupation prisons. Palestinian prisoners have long transformed the dungeons of the occupier into schools of political education and organization, sites of resistance where national leaders and revolutionary cadres have continued to develop their political consciousness and organizational experience despite the occupation’s attempts to isolate them from their people.

Many of those liberated in 2011 went on to assume leading roles in Palestinian political movements, popular organizations and the resistance. Among the most prominent was the martyred leader Yahya Sinwar, who had spent 23 years in the occupation prisons before his liberation, where he was among the leadership of the Hamas prisoners in occupation prisons. He subsequently became the leader of Hamas in Gaza and, ultimately, a central leader of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation and the Palestinian resistance during the genocidal assault on Gaza, and the chair of the Political Bureau of Hamas before his martyrdom on 16 October 2024 on the front lines of the battle in Rafah. Rawhi Mushtaha, another long-imprisoned leader liberated in Wafa’ al-Ahrar, also assumed significant leadership responsibilities, as did Tawfiq Abu Naim. Zaher Jabarin and Hussam Badran became prominent figures in the Palestinian movement outside Palestine, including in the political and prisoners’ affairs of Hamas.

The leadership of liberated prisoners helped to shape the development of the Palestinian resistance, bringing their knowledge and vision to the revolutionary project, as well as their commitment to liberate those who remained inside the occupier’s jails. Ahmad Ja’bari, the commander of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades who was the architect of the exchange, was committed to the liberation of the prisoners after his 13 years in occupation prisons. So, too, did those released in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange contribute significantly to the development of the Resistance, especially in Gaza, in the ensuing years, including the battle of Seif al-Quds in 2021 and the launching of Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023.

At the mass celebration for the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange in Gaza City’s Al-Katiba Square on 19 October, Sinwar urgently called for the next stage of liberation of the prisoners. “I call on all the leaders of the Palestinian resistance factions to take responsibility for liberating the remaining prisoners as soon as possible….This must be turned into a practical plan.” He dedicated himself to executing just such a plan, alongside his comrades — which has today, changed the world.

In his first comments after liberation, Sinwar addressed the Al-Qassam Brigades:

Wafa’ al-Ahrar also led to a new era for the prisoners’ movement inside the occupation jails. While the hunger strike, both collective and individual, was long a tactic of Palestinian prisoners’ struggles, as in South Africa, Ireland, and around the world, Sheikh Khader Adnan and the collective Karameh hunger strike of 2012 raised the profile of these movements this new period. Several prisoners liberated in Wafa’ al-Ahrar were re-arrested and became leading figures in this struggle. Hana’ Shalabi, liberated in October 2011 and re-arrested only months later, launched a 43-day hunger strike before being expelled to Gaza. Samer al-Issawi undertook one of the longest hunger strikes in Palestinian prisoners’ history after his re-arrest, while Ayman Sharawna also waged a prolonged hunger strike demanding his freedom and was released to Gaza. Palestinian journalist Bushra al-Tawil, repeatedly re-arrested and held without charge or trial, was freed after her imprisoned father, prominent leader Jamal al-Tawil, launched a hunger strike for her freedom; she is currently once again under administrative detention, held in isolation, and subjected to beatings behind bars.

The Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange was the culmination of more than five years of negotiations following the capture of Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006, in the Palestinian resistance operation known as Dispelled Illusion. The operation was carried out jointly by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas; the al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees; and the Army of Islam. Shalit was held in Gaza for over five years, throughout repeated Israeli military assaults, including the devastating 2008–2009 war on Gaza, during which the occupation failed to secure his release.

A central figure in the development and achievement of Wafa’ al-Ahrar was the martyred Palestinian resistance leader Ahmad al-Ja’bari, liberated prisoner and a leading commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who played a decisive role in the negotiations and arrangements for the exchange.

Al-Ja’bari, born in 1960 in Shujaiyya, Gaza, spent 13 years in occupation prisons between 1982 and 1995. Originally a member of Fateh, he became involved with the emerging Hamas movement during his imprisonment alongside members of its leadership, including Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi and Ibrahim al-Maqadmeh. Following his liberation, he assumed responsibility for Hamas’s Department of Prisoners and Liberated Prisoners’ Affairs, before later becoming a leading commander of the Qassam Brigades. Between 1998 and 2000 he was imprisoned under “security coordination” with the occupation by the “Palestinian Authority.”

Al-Ja’bari was directly involved in the custody of Shalit and led Hamas negotiating delegations, insisting on achieving liberation for his imprisoned brothers and comrades. During the negotiations for the exchangel, the Egyptian mediator asked al-Jaabari to meet the “Israeli” negotiating delegation remotely. He refused the request and said: “This enemy — we meet it only on the battlefields.”

The agreement was finally reached on 11 October 2011, securing the liberation of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in two stages. On 18 October, Ahmad al-Ja’bari personally accompanied Shalit to the Rafah crossing for the exchange, making one of his rare public appearances. Just over a year later, on 14 November 2012, the Israeli occupation assassinated al-Ja’bari in Gaza.

Almost immediately following Wafa’ al-Ahrar, the occupation began re-arresting liberated prisoners. In June 2014, it launched a massive arrest campaign throughout the occupied West Bank, targeting dozens of prisoners freed in the exchange. Using Article 186 of Israeli Military Order 1651, usually on the basis of “secret evidence” or allegations of “violating their terms of release,” usually on the basis of “association” with prohibited organizations, which include all major Palestinian political parties, Zionist occupation authorities created a special military committee to restore previous sentences, including multiple life sentences, against prisoners who had already been liberated.

By 2016, dozens of Wafa’ al-Ahrar prisoners had been re-imprisoned, and approximately 50 had their original sentences reinstated. Among them were Nael Barghouti, Samer Mahroum, Shadi Odeh, Bassam Natsheh, Ashraf al-Wawi, Alaa al-Bazian, and many others.

Their liberation became a central priority in Palestinian prisoners’ campaigns and one of the key demands of the resistance in any future prisoner exchange. The return of the re-arrested Wafa’ al-Ahrar prisoners to freedom remained an unresolved demand for more than a decade, demonstrating the occupation’s refusal to respect even the terms of agreements it had formally accepted.

The Toufan al-Ahrar exchanges beginning in November 2023, followed by the major exchanges of January, February and October 2025, brought thousands more Palestinians out of the occupation prisons. Among those released in February 2025 were 41 prisoners originally liberated in Wafa’ al-Ahrar and subsequently re-arrested. Their second liberation represented another significant chapter in the long struggle of Palestinian prisoners for freedom and illustrated the commitment of loyalty held by the Resistance to liberate their imprisoned brothers at the top of the list in the exchange.

The experience of Nael Barghouti embodies both the achievements of the Resistance through prisoner exchanges — both Wafa’ al-Ahrar and Toufan al-Ahrar — and the ongoing attempts of the occupation to deny liberated Palestinian prisoners their freedom. First imprisoned in 1978, Barghouti spent 34 consecutive years in occupation prisons before his liberation in 2011. He returned to his village of Kobar, married fellow liberated prisoner Iman Nafeh, and began rebuilding a life denied to him for decades.

That freedom was brutally interrupted when the occupation re-arrested him in June 2014 and subsequently reinstated his original life sentence. He remained imprisoned until 27 February 2025, when he was once again liberated by the Resistance through a prisoner exchange — but this time forcibly deported outside Palestine, denied the right to return to his home and reunite with his family. Meanwhile, his beloved wife, Iman Nafeh, was barred from traveling outside Palestine solely for the purpose of separating her from Nael.

His liberation was accompanied by the painful image of a new wedding ring engraved with their names sent to his wife from exile. Iman responded, “The first wedding ring meant our life, long time together, but this one is the continuation of our life which occupation can’t end.” Palestinian liberated prisoners exiled from Palestine face not only forced separation from their land and families, they also struggle with new restrictions, security conditions and surveillance, and the occupation’s continued refusal to even allow their families to visit them by blocking them from exiting Palestine.

The occupation also continues to pursue liberated prisoners as it seeks to destroy the continuity of Palestinian revolutionary leadership through imprisonment, isolation, forced exile and assassination.

Mazen Fuqaha was assassinated in March 2017, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Tariq Ezzedine was assassinated alongside two of his children in May 2023 after years of exile from his hometown of Arraba near Jenin. The martyrs of Al-Aqsa Flood among the Wafa’ al-Ahrar prisoners include prominent leaders originally from Gaza such as Yahya Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha as well as those forcibly transferred to Gaza, including Fursan Khalifa, Abdul-Aziz Salha, Bassam Abu Sneineh, Ali al-Sarafiti, Khaled al-Najjar, and, most recently, Farah Hamed, among at least 32 martyrs of the exchange.

Wafa’ al-Ahrar belongs to a long history of prisoner exchanges achieved by Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations.

On 23 July 1968, the first exchange was successfully completed between the Palestinian revolution and the Israeli occupation. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked a plane from Rome to Tel Aviv, releasing the passengers in exchange for 37 Palestinian prisoners, some with high sentences imprisoned before 1967.

On 28 February 1971, Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi was exchanged for an Israeli soldier in an exchange agreement between Fateh and the Israeli occupation.

On 14 March 1979, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command conducted an exchange agreement with the Israeli occupation for the release of 76 Palestinian prisoners, including 12 women prisoners.

In 1980, Palestinian prisoner Mehdi Bseiso was released in exchange for a collaborator captured by the Fateh movement.

On 23 November 1983, 4560 Palestinian detained Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in southern Lebanon, including 65 Palestinian women prisoners were exchanged for six Israeli occupation soldiers arrested in southern Lebanon, in an exchange with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In June 1984, 291 Syrians imprisoned by the Israeli state and 72 Syrians’ remains, as well as 20 Palestinian prisoners, were exchanged for six captive Israeli soldiers and five soldiers’ remains in an exchange with Syria.

On 20 May 1985, 1155 Palestinian prisoners were released in an exchange for three Israeli soldiers captured by the PFLP-GC. Many of the Palestinian prisoners released later became leaders in the intifada that arose in 1987.

In September 1997, the Mossad attempted to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Jordan with a poisonous injection. Two Mossad agents were arrested in Jordan and in exchange for those agents, the Israeli state released Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and leader of the Hamas movement, then serving a life sentence in Israeli prisons. (Yassin had been previously released in the 1985 prisoner exchange.)

In January 2004, the Israeli occupation released 436 prisoners, including 400 Palestinians, 23 Lebanese, two Syrians, three Moroccans, three Sudanese, one Libyan and one German prisoner, and returned the remains of 59 soldiers in exchange for the remains of three Israeli occupation soldiers and the release of drug dealer, businessman and potential intelligence agent Elhanan Tannenbaum, in an exchange with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In 2008, Samir Kuntar of the Palestine Liberation Front and four Hezbollah fighters were released in exchange for the remains of two Israeli occupation soldiers in southern Lebnon, in an exchange with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Following the Wafa’ al-Ahrar exchange, the Toufan al-Ahrar exchanges of 2023 through 2025 liberated 3,985 Palestinians from the occupation jails, with 240, 1777 and 1968 prisoners liberated in three large stages.

Since 7 October 2023, the occupation has intensified its campaign of torture, starvation, isolation, sexual violence, denial of medical treatment and deliberate humiliation against the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian prisoners held inside its prisons and detention camps. As of October 2026, approximately 9,265 Palestinians are imprisoned in occupation detention facilities, including over 3,600 under “administrative detention,” without charge or trial. Palestinian prisoners’ institutions have documented the deaths of at least 92 detainees in Zionist custody, amid systematic torture, sexual and physical assault, psychological abuse, medical neglect and what the prisoners’ movement has long described as the policy of “slow assassination.”

On 30 March 2026, the Israeli Knesset passed the notorious prisoners’ execution law, representing a further escalation of the occupation’s attempt to terrorize and eliminate Palestinian prisoners, and to legalize the policy of assassination behind bars already in place through torture, starvation and medical neglect. Palestinians from Gaza and leadership prisoners, including those the occupation has refused to release so far in an exchange, such as Hassan Salameh, Ahmad Sa’adat, Abbas al-Sayyed, Abdullah Barghouti, Jamal Abu al-Haija, Marwan Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed, Muammar Shahrour and Mohammed Arman, are held in isolation, beaten and abused, while being denied medical care.

The prisoners are targeted not only because of their individual actions, but because of their collective role in sustaining Palestinian political organization, resistance and national consciousness.

On the 15th anniversary of Wafa’ al-Ahrar, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the Palestinian resistance, embodying the name of the exchange — “Loyalty to the Free” — and the 1,027 prisoners liberated in 2011, the martyrs among the liberated prisoners, those who continue to live and struggle in exile, and all Palestinian prisoners who continue their struggle behind the walls of the occupation prisons.

The liberation of Palestinian prisoners is a key priority for the cause, part and parcel of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

The legacy of Wafa’ al-Ahrar, the history of the great Palestinian and Lebanese prisoner exchanges, the commitment of the Resistance to the liberation of the prisoners, and the continuing struggle of the prisoners themselves all reaffirm the centrality of prisoner liberation to the Palestinian national cause.

We call on the Palestinian, Arab and international movement for Palestine to intensify its efforts to expose the crimes of the occupation prison system, confront the prisoners’ execution law, defend Palestinian prisoners’ organizations, demand an end to torture and medical neglect, and challenge the governments and corporations that arm, fund and sustain the occupation, particularly the U.S., France, Britain, Germany, Canada and the other Western imperialist powers that provide both direct military and intelligence support as well as diplomatic and political cover to occupation crimes. We urge the expansion of mass mobilizations, boycott campaigns, labor actions, direct actions against arms manufacturers, student organizing and popular campaigns demanding the immediate liberation of Palestinian prisoners.

Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners!

Freedom for Palestine, from the river to the sea!

17 October, 25 years later: Palestinian Resistance confronts the assassination policy

Today, 17 October 2026, marks 25 years since the heroic resistance operation targeting the notorious racist Zionist tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi, carried out in response to the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa, then General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This strike against colonial occupation was carried out by Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi al-Rimawi, Mohammed al-Rimawi, Hamdi Qur’an and Basil al-Asmar, all of whom remain imprisoned in Zionist jails to this day, alongside over 9,000 Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, and by the martyr Mohammed Sa’adat.

The operation is a landmark in the history of Palestinian resistance and one of the key events of the second, Al-Aqsa Intifada, because it marked an important effort to impose parity, meaningful consequences, and accountability against the long-running assassination policy of the occupation, which has targeted and continues to target Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Iranian and other political and military leaders, writers, theoreticians, scientists, government officials, journalists, organizers and revolutionaries.

On this anniversary, we commemorate this revolutionary act, we salute the prisoners at the forefront of the resistance who took qualitative actions to further the Palestinian cause, and we renew our demands for their liberation. The lessons and legacy of 17 October are particularly relevant today as the assassination policy continues at the hands of the occupation, and as Zionist war minister Israel Katz threatens to renew the decades-old policy of assassinations of Palestinian leaders outside Palestine.

After the PFLP’s General Secretary George Habash took the decision to step down in 2000, Abu Ali Mustafa was elected as his successor during the the party’s sixth conference in July 2000. His leadership was tragically short-lived, as the zionist occupation assassinated Abu Ali Mustafa on 27 August 2001 in a targeted strike on his office in Al-Bireh with a U.S.-made and -provided military attack helicopter. Ahmed Sa’adat, veteran of the prisoners’ movement, was elected as the new General Secretary after his assassination. Sa’adat promised that his martyrdom would be avenged: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head”.

Therefore, 17 October was the implementation of this declared policy and the culmination of the painstaking efforts of resistance forces to take up the responsibility to carry out a  clear and decisive revolutionary response to the assassination of their leader and a leader of the Palestinian national liberation movement as a whole. The target, Zionist tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi, was a notorious racist extremist who founded the far-right ‘Moledet’ party, and lobbied for the policy of ‘population transfer’ against the Palestinian population. In many ways, he was the Itamar Ben-Gvir or Bezalel Smotrich of the day, who made his political name in Zionist society on the basis of overt racism and genocidal intent. Years later, he was revealed in Zionist media to also have been a serial rapist and sexual abuser.

After weeks of planning and surveillance by the resistance fighters, Rehavam Ze’evi was assassinated by Palestinian resistance fighter Hamdi Qur’an, with a handgun and a silencer, in the dining room of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Jerusalem on the morning of 17 October 2001, 51 days after the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa. This operation was a major blow to the occupation’s security apparatus, who were unable to protect one of their own high-ranking ministers. Further, the assassination demonstrated that the Palestinian resistance is capable of responding to attacks on its own leaders with the same level of force, establishing a new deterrence equation of its time.

This historic operation was celebrated throughout Palestine and the diaspora: amid the rising of the Intifada, it marked a qualitative advance in Palestinian revolutionary armed struggle. It was the first time a high-level ‘Israeli’ official was successfully targeted by the resistance in response to the long-running assassination campaign carried out by the occupation. It also made clear, once again, that the oppressive policies and assassinations carried out by the occupation would never succeed in eliminating or suppressing the Palestinian resistance and revolutionary struggle.

The Zionist establishment was enraged by the operation and its own failure in preventing it. They hunted down and imprisoned Mohammed al-Rimawi in the aftermath, while the Palestinian Authority implemented its policy of “security coordination” with the Zionist entity, a key element of the Oslo Accords. This framework ensured that the PA and its security services serve as guards for the occupation to persecute and repress the forces of the Resistance, rather than act as protectors of the Palestinian people.

Between November 2001 and February 2002, most of the leaders and executors of the operation, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Hamdi Qur’an, Majdi al-Rimawi, and Basel al-Asmar, had been arrested by the treacherous Palestinian Authority, alongside more than 60 members of the PFLP. On 15 January 2002, Ahmad Sa’adat was lured into a meeting with then-PA security official Tawfiq Tirawi under the pretext of negotiating the release of his detained comrades, where he was instead arrested by PA security forces. He has remained imprisoned ever since, initially held in the PA’s presidential compound in Ramallah before being transferred, alongside his comrades, to the PA’s prison in Jericho in May 2002. Although officially guarded by PA security forces, the detainees were held under the direction and authority of American, Canadian, and British guards.

The four leaders of the operation were given a hastily arranged military trial by the PA, some of which was recorded and included in a tribute video produced by the PFLP:

 

The liberation of Palestinian prisoners, including the hundreds detained under “security coordination” in PA jails, has consistently remained a central objective of the Palestinian Resistance. During the victory of the Change and Reform Bloc, the electoral slate associated with Hamas, in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, one of its key pledges was to secure the release of Ahmad Sa’adat, his comrades, and all Palestinian political prisoners held at the behest of the Zionist entity. In response, the Zionist forces, in cooperation with the imperialist powers, moved swiftly to prevent such an outcome. On 14 March 2006, fewer than ten days before the martyr Ismail Haniyeh was due to be sworn in as Prime Minister with the authority to release the detained heroes, the IOF laid siege to Jericho prison. American, Canadian, and British guards abandoned their posts, clearing the way for the occupation forces to enter. Most PA guards surrendered within a short time, although two were martyred at the hands of the occupation forces.

Ahmad Sa’adat and 200 other political prisoners where then kidnapped and taken to Zionist jails. Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years in prison in an occupation court in December 2008, while his comrades were sentenced to life sentences. At his trial, he stated: “I do not stand to defend myself in front of your court… I stand to defend my people and their legitimate right to national independence and self-determination and return,” while his comrades were sentenced to life imprisonment inside the occupation prisons. Because of their role in establishing a one-to-one deterrence to the Zionist assassination policy, the occupation refuses to include them in prisoner exchanges.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Sa’adat, the younger brother of Ahmad Sa’adat, who had participating in manufacturing the silencer for the operation, renting vehicles and arranging logistics, was martyred in a direct clash with invading Zionist forces who ambushed him in an assassination raid in 2002.

Ahmad Sa’adat, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Hamdi Qur’an, Majdi al-Rimawi, Mohammad al-Rimawi, and Basel al-Asmar have remained imprisoned and kept in deteriorating conditions since their 2006 abduction from Jericho prison. In January 2026, the Prisoners’ Media Office reported that Mohammed Al-Rimawi’s health was suffering inside the occupation prisons, as a result of deliberate neglect and policies of starvation and collective punishment.

Since 7 October 2023 and Al-Aqsa Flood, amid the genocide in Gaza, leaders of the prisoners’ movement have faced intensified isolation and abuse. Both Sa’adat and Abu Ghoulmeh have been repeatedly isolated, denied medical care, and mistreated in occupation prisons, with limited opportunities to communicate with the outside world. In January 2025, reports revealed that Sa’adat had been transferred to Megiddo prison, where he was held in isolation and brutally beaten during the transfer, despite serious health concerns and the denial of medical care. In April 2025, released prisoners reported that Abu Ghoulmeh had also been beaten by occupation prison guards while being transferred to Gilboa prison. Yet, just as resistance continues to erupt amid genocide, hope also springs from the prisons: just two months ago, Basil al-Asmar and his wife Sanabel gave birth to twins conceived through IVF, from liberated sperm smuggled outside the prison walls.

The imprisoned leaders and fighters of the Palestinian resistance, including Sa’adat and the heroes of October 17th, have remained steadfast through years of captivity, torture, mistreatment, and abuse. Their stories, alongside those of countless Palestinian fighters and Resistance leaders held in Zionist prisons, such as Hassan Salameh, Abbas al-Sayyed, Ibrahim Hamed, Anas Jaradat, Jamil Abu al-Haija, Mohammed Arman, Muhannad Shreim and Marwan Barghouti, are a call to all free people around the world to take action, struggle for their liberation, and pressure the Zionist regime to release them.

The ongoing assassination crimes of the occupier, carried out with intelligence support and military assistance from the United States and other imperialist powers, must not remain unpunished. It is not solely the responsibility of the Resistance to impose accountability for these ongoing crimes, but also the responsibility of international legal institutions, states, and the peoples of the world. From the Pager massacre in Lebanon to the ongoing daily assassinations of resisters, journalists, police and civil leaders in Gaza, to the assassinations of the martyrs Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar, Izz el-Din al-Haddad, Jamila Shanti, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Fouad al-Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Mohammed Saeed Izadi, Mohammed Abdul-Karim al-Ghamari, Ahmed al-Rawhi, and the long line of leading martyrs, the occupation seeks to assert and act upon its impunity to slaughter the leaders of the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movement of our era.

When Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich openly abuse imprisoned Palestinians in front of the cameras for votes or declare their genocidal intent to seize the entire West Bank or eliminate the Palestinian population in Gaza, they are also attempting to demonstrate that they can carry out their crimes in full view of the world without fear of accountability.

The lesson and example of 17 October is that of the necessity of such accountability. When the systems and structures of the world fail to impose it, the people, their movements and their resistance will do so, despite the asymmetry of military and technological strength.

It also highlights once again why it is that the Zionists and imperialists constantly demand to disarm the Resistance, in Palestine, Lebanon and throughout the region: because they want the people defenseless before their genocidal assaults, bombings, assassinations, land theft, destruction of schools, homes, and holy sites and mass imprisonment. It is the Resistance that defends the land and the people, confronts the assassination policy, and works to liberate the prisoners, while the genocidaires demand the ability to massacre with utter impunity.

The revolutionary act of October 17th and its aftermath, later built upon by the successive battles of the Palestinian resistance and the current era of Al-Aqsa Flood, the new era of the Palestinian revolution and the struggle against genocide, demonstrate the necessity and legitimacy of armed struggle in the path to liberation, the dangers of collaborationist forces, and the centrality of the revolutionary prisoners in the movement. As long as the genocide continues, as long as the occupation persists, so too, will the resistance, until victory and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea.

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