![A released Palestinian prisoner starts to receive his treatment process following his arrival within prisoner swap deal after being brought to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza on February 27, 2025. [Hani Alshaer - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AA-20250227-37179485-37179483-PALESTINIAN_PRISONERS_RELEASED_IN_SWAP_AGREEMENT_ARRIVE_IN_GAZA.jpg?fit=1067%2C800&ssl=1)
Palestinians released as part of the seventh and final batch of the Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal appeared emaciated and showed signs of skin diseases and torture, footage shared on social media shows. One of the former detainees was released while in a coma and was transferred to a hospital in the occupied West Bank.
Some 456 Palestinians were released and transferred to the Gaza Strip, according to Saleh Al-Hams, the nursing director at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
📌Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to shocking atrocities in Israeli prisons, where systematic torture surpasses the brutality of the most infamous detention centers in history. pic.twitter.com/G5KcWfTOJL
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) February 27, 2025
“The prisoners are in a state of severe emaciation, with some unable to walk due to the intense beatings and torture they have endured,” Al-Hams said.
He added that “most of the prisoners suffer from skin diseases, and one case was admitted to the hospital overnight due to lung fibrosis”.
The health official noted that among the freed were 15 health staffers, who were taken into custody from hospitals during the course of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
According to Hamas, 11 of those released to the Gaza Strip were prisoners serving life or long sentences who had been detained before 7 October 2023, while the others were detained by the Israeli occupation army in Gaza after that.
Hamas added that 97 prisoners – serving life or long sentences – were also deported to Egypt.
Amani Sarahneh from the Palestinian Prisoners Society told Anadolu that the Israeli occupation authorities blocked the release of 46 children and women.
She added that the Israeli authorities are delaying their release until full verification of the bodies received from Gaza.
With the transfer of the four more bodies late on Wednesday, Hamas completed the release of 33 Israelis, including eight bodies, under the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire that ends this weekend.
Israeli figures estimate that 59 Israelis are still held in Gaza with at least 20 of them alive. They are due to be released in the second phase of the ceasefire, which would require Israel to fully withdraw its forces and end the war permanently.
The six-week pause in the Israeli war, which has claimed the lives of more than 48,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins, began on 19 January.
READ: Hundreds of Palestinians, including children and women, released from Israeli jails