(24 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beitunia, West Bank – 23 February 2025
1. Close up of Hassan Yassin, 35, brother of prisoner Belal Yassin who was sentenced to 31 years and has spent 20 years in prison
2. Wide of Yassin family sat in Ramallah Cultural Palace (near Beitunia), the usual meeting place for families with the released prisoners
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan Yassin, brother of prisoner Belal Yassin:
"All our feelings were destroyed. After the joy we felt when we found the name in the released prisoners’ names list, we were very happy and suddenly everything collapsed. It was such an overwhelming day. But, thank God, our hope in God is great, and God willing, they will be released. As of now, we are still waiting. I didn’t want to leave because I didn’t want him to be released from prison if something new happened without having one of us waiting for him. I pressured the rest of the family to leave because the weather wasn’t suitable, it was cold, and there were children. Yesterday, if you had seen the people here, children were sleeping, the elderly and the women were – all of them. It was a tragic situation while they were waiting for their children."
4. Various of Ofer prison
5. Various of families waiting
STORYLINE:
The latest release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed until further notice.
It was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday and was to have been the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.
Palestinian families and well-wishers waited for long hours for the release of their sons and loved ones on Saturday.
When it became clear to them that there was a postponement, some decided not to return home until the prisoners were released.
Hassan Yassin, 35, came to the Ramallah area on early Saturday morning from Jenin to receive his brother, Belal Yassin, who is sentenced to 31 years and has spent 20 years in prison
"All our feelings were destroyed. After the joy we felt when we found the name (in the realised prisoners’ names list), we were very happy and suddenly everything collapsed," said Hassan.
Hassan refused to leave Ramallah city on Sunday because he didn’t want his brother to be released from prison without having someone from the family waiting for him.
Israel said it was delaying the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners until it receives assurances that Hamas stops what Israel says are “humiliating” handovers of hostages being freed.
The sides do not yet appear to have begun negotiations on extending the ceasefire and its collapse could lead to renewed fighting in war-torn Gaza.
AP video by Amer Abdeen
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