After seven weeks of war, the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas began on Friday morning. Under this truce, Israeli authorities agreed to release 150 Palestinian prisoners, including children.
Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners were released on Friday, including 17 children.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the children who were imprisoned by Israel were born between the years 2005-2007. Several of them had spent most of their teenage years inside an Israeli jail.
The most prominent charges used by Israel to justify its detention of Palestinian children were throwing stones, crowding or assembling, and graffiti stones.
Defence for Children International - Palestine has reported that Israeli forces detain, interrogate, prosecute, and imprison 500-700 Palestinian children between the ages of 12-17 each year.
Israel has currently detained 7,200 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 children. Of those minors, 26 are in administrative detention - held without trial and with no time limit.
Who are the Palestinian children released so far?
The following is a list compiled by The New Arab detailing the names of 17 released Palestinian children:
- Yousef Mohammad Mustafa Ata from Ramallah
- Qusai Hani Ali Ahmad from Bethlehem
- Jibreel Ghassan Ismail Jibreel from Qalqilya
- Mohammad Ahmad Suleiman Abu Rajab from al-Khalil
- Ahmad Nu’man Ahmad Abu Na’im from Ramallah
- Baraa Bilal Mahmoud Rabee from al-Khalil
- Aban Iyad Mohammad Said Hammad from Qalqilya
- Moataz Hatem Moussa Abu Aram from al-Khalil
- Iyad Abdul Qader Mohammad Khateeb from Jerusalem
- Hazma Laith Khalil Othman Othman from Ramallah
- Mohammad Mahmoud Ayoub Dar Darwish from Ramallah
- Jamal Khalil Jamal Barahmeh from Areeha
- Jamal Yousef Jamal Abu Hamdan from Nablus
- Mohammad Anis Saleem Tarabi from Nablus
- Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahman Suleiman Rizq from Jerusalem
- Zeina Raed Abdou from Jerusalem
- Noor Mohammad Hafez al-Tahir from Nablus
- Zeina and Noor are girls, the others are boys.
Who does the deal leave behind?
The deal leaves behind over 200 children still in Israeli jails. These include child prisoner Mohammad Bassel al-Zalbani, 13, who was accused of allegedly "stabbing" an Israeli soldier during a search on a school bus, but was not tried in juvenile court.
Israeli forces also deliberately demolished his home during its current aggression on occupied West Bank.
Other Palestinian children were arrested as minors but have entered adulthood behind Israeli bars. Ahmad Manasra is the most prominent example.
In 2015, Ahmad and his cousin were attacked by Israeli settlers during a car ramming, which killed his cousin. Ahmad was 13 years old when he was arrested and imprisoned. He was subjected to psychological and physical torture inside an Israeli jail, including two years of solitary confinement, resulting in schizophrenia and severe depression.
Today, Ahmad is 21 years old and remains behind bars and his case has been slammed as "in brazen violation of international law" by Amnesty International.
"Israeli authorities have treated Ahmad Manasra with inhuman cruelty, intent on pushing him past breaking point," the NGO said.
Obay Abu Maria is also another such case, although his family hopes he will be released in the deal after his name was included on an expanded list.
Obay was arrested four times in a row by Israeli forces. He was 14 years old the first time, and he had just turned 18 when he was last arrested. He was apprehended after being hit by an explosive bullet on his elbow. He did not receive medical attention inside prison and almost lost his hand.