Israel releases senior Hamas leader from prison

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Israel released senior Hamas leader Hasan Yousef from prison on Sunday after 20 months of detention, according to his son.

“My father was released from Ofer prison, west of Ramallah, and he is at home now,” Oweis Hassan told Anadolu.

There was no confirmation yet from the Israeli authorities.

Yousef, 68, was detained by the Israeli authorities in December 2012 from his home in the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah.

In February 2022, the Hamas leader was slapped with a 20-month jail term.

Yousef has spent nearly 24 years in Israeli jails for membership in Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

While serving a prison sentence in 2006, Yousef was elected a member of parliament.

In 1992, he was deported by the Israeli authorities along with more than 400 Palestinian activists to Marj al-Zuhur, a village in southern Lebanon. After a year, they were allowed to return after Israel faced an international backlash.

Palestinian figures indicate that there are nearly 4,900 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, including more than 500 held without charge or trial under Israel’s policy of administrative detention.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar