Ahead of the fifth day of an Israel-Hamas truce, Israel has freed 150 Palestinian detainees, and Hamas has released 69 hostages.
Of all the Palestinian prisoners released so far, 98 were detained without charge. 119 of the freed prisoners were children and the remaining 31 were women.
According to combined information released by the Palestinian Prisoners Club and the Israeli prison authorities, 33 Palestinian prisoners were in group released Monday, which included 30 children who were 18 years old or younger. Out of the 30 teenagers, 29 are boys and one is a 15-year-old girl.
Some context: Israel often places Palestinians under administrative detention, a widely criticized practice in which a detainee is unaware of any charges against them, and their case is not subject to any legal process.
At the start of October, more than 1,200 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention, the highest figure in more than three decades, according to Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.
Arrests have increased dramatically since Hamas’ deadly attacks on October 7. Up to 2,070 arrests were documented in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in that month alone, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a non-governmental organization dedicated to addressing the concerns of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. That figure includes 145 children and 55 women