Israeli Forces Arrest Freed Palestinian Prisoner, Violating Ceasefire Agreement

Israeli Forces Arrest Freed Palestinian Prisoner, Violating Ceasefire Agreement

Israeli Forces Arrest Freed Palestinian Prisoner, Violating Ceasefire Agreement
Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- Israeli occupation forces arrested a Palestinian who had been released just a few months earlier as part of the recent prisoner exchange deal under the Gaza ceasefire agreement during a military raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday. Fahed Sawalhi was freed a few months earlier after serving 23 years in Israeli prisons. Local sources said Israeli forces arrested the former detainee during a military raid in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus at dawn on Monday. During the raid, the sources added that the soldiers raided several homes of Palestinians who were recently released as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. The first phase of a prisoner exchange deal under the ceasefire agreement resulted in the release of 1,777 Palestinian prisoners, who spent a total time amounting to approximately 10,000 years in Israeli detention centres. In recent months, Israeli forces have re-arrested at least 15 Palestinians previously freed under the January agreement. Under the terms of the deal, which Israel later violated when it resumed assault on Gaza, the released Palestinians were not to be re-arrested on the same charges for which they had previously been imprisoned. Rights advocates say Israel's actions breach terms of the deal and send a warning to other released prisoners.