Detainee Thanks Gazans after Release, Says ’Israel’ Tortures Palestinians

By Staff, Agencies

One of the high-profile Palestinians released as part of the third batch of an agreement between Hamas and "Israel" on the exchange of Palestinian detainees with "Israeli" captives under a Gaza ceasefire agreement was Zakaria Zubeidi.

Zubeidi, a Fatah leader and commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the West Bank, was freed along with 109 other Palestinian detainees in Ramallah.

Their release came after Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad released three "Israeli" captives along with the five Thai nationals. They were handed over to the Red Cross.

He also expressed gratitude to Gaza for liberating him and bringing him back to his family, despite facing isolation, torture, and humiliation, as all detainees face similar conditions.

He went on to describe 'Israeli" prisons as centers of killing and daily torture.

“Gaza now needs reconstruction, and all levels of the Palestinian people must come together to accomplish this, and return our people to their homes safely,” the former Palestinian detainee pointed out.

On July 15, 2007, "Israel" granted amnesty to several al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade members, including him, in exchange for their surrender to the Palestinian Authority.

Four years later, on December 29, 2011, "Israel" revoked his amnesty, despite Zubeidi's insistence that he had not violated its terms.

He was detained without charge by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for six months, and then later held in a jail in “protective custody.”

In 2018, he pursued a master’s degree at Birzeit University and finally obtained it behind prison bars.

He and his lawyer, Tariq Barghout, were arrested in January 2019 and charged with engaging in “new incitement activities” and armed resistance against the "Israeli" entity.

On September 6, 2021, he escaped from the Gilboa maximum security prison in the northern sector of the "Israeli"-occupied territories alongside 5 other Palestinians by digging a tunnel from their cell.