Israel re-arrests Palestinian teen freed in prisoner swap

By Awad al-Rujoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) — Israeli authorities have put a Palestinian teen back behind bars after he was released in a prisoner swap deal in late November, a Palestinian prisoners group said on Tuesday.

"The Israeli occupation authorities re-arrested teen Yousef Abdullah al-Khatib, 17, from Jericho city (eastern occupied West Bank), today," the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement, adding that al-Khatib had been summoned by Israeli intelligence and pressured to turn himself in.

The incident marks the first arrest of a Palestinian freed in a prisoner swap between Israel and Gaza-based resistance group Hamas.

The prisoners' group stressed that al-Khatib's arrest was "a clear violation to the deal, and an indication that Israel is restoring the policy of re-arresting released prisoners under prisoners swap deals."

It noted that at the time of his release on Nov. 27, al-Khatib had been jailed without charge or trial under Israel's policy of administrative detention.

The statement urged mediators Qatar and Egypt to pressure Israeli authorities not to re-arrest released prisoners and to end their persecution.

During a week-long humanitarian pause in Gaza between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, Hamas released 105 civilians held in Gaza, including 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners. They were released in exchange of the release of 240 Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.

Israel launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing more than 25,000 people. About 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar