At least two Palestinian teens released in the hostage/prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel have been re-arrested, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has told The News Movement.
On November 22, Hamas and Israel reached a deal to swap over 100 Israeli women and children hostages taken from Israel during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel for 240 Palestinian women and children prisoners.
Ahmed Walid Khashan, 18, and Youssef al-Khatib, 17, were both released from Israeli prison in November as part of the hostage and prisoner swap and have both been re-arrested by Israeli forces.
Youssef Al-Khatib via Palestinian Prisoner's Society
According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, an advocacy organization that represents Palestinian prisoners, Khashan was rearrested in Jenin on January 25 and Al-Khatib was rearrested from the city of Jericho on January 23.
The circumstances under which the re-arrests occurred are still unclear.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said such rearrests are “a clear violation of the release deals that were concluded, which is a dangerous matter, and an indication of [Israel’s] restoration of the policy of re-arresting freed prisoners.”
They have also called on the mediating countries, Qatar and Egypt, to intervene.
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We have reached out to the Israeli Prison Service for a statement and to clarify the circumstances of the rearrests, but have not heard back.
Ahmed Walid Khashan via X
This is not the first time re-arrests have happened after similar exchanges between Israel and Hamas.
In 2011, a Germany and Qatar mediated hostage/prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas led to the release of 1,027 prisoners held in Israeli custody for the release of one Israeli soldier.
By 2014, over 50 of those freed prisoners were re-arrested.
The current re-arrests happened amidst a stark rise in arrests in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Israel has told Reuters that all prisoners "are detained according to the provisions of the law.”
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has recorded 6,255 arrests of Palestinians since Oct. 7.
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Elizabeth Rghebi, Amnesty International USA’s advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa, told TNM “Amnesty has documented a noted increase or spike in the arrests of Palestinians and the use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities since October 7, across the occupied West Bank, and this includes East Jerusalem.”
Detainees arrested under administrative detention can be held indefinitely and without charge. Israel has said the policy is necessary for security reasons.
Under international law, administrative detention is not illegal and is permitted under extreme circumstances, but Rghebi says that is not the case with Israel’s use of the policy.
“The issue is that the way that the Israeli authorities use it does not meet that threshold, which is a very high threshold. It is used widespread and systematically, it's used to target political opponents of occupation and of apartheid. And it's used singularly against Palestinians,” said Rghebi.
A number of rights groups including Amnesty International, Defense for Children-Palestine, and Addameer have also recorded a rise in allegations of torture and abuse inside Israeli prisons.
TNM has spoken to a number of freed detainees and their families. Three of these detainees' families have said they have faced pressure from Israeli authorities to not speak to the media about their experiences in prison to the media under threat of re-arrest. We have reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment but have yet to hear back.
TNM will continue to follow this story.