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Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi has been released from Israeli prison on a prisoner release in the latest exchange Deal between Israel and Hamas.
The 22-year-old, one of the best-known Palestinian activists, became a powerful symbol of protests against Israeli occupation in the West Bank as a teenager.
It was added to an expanded one on Monday List of prisoners whose release was approved under the agreement and was among the 30 Palestinian prisoners and 10 Israeli hostages are due to be released on Wednesday.
After her release, Associated Press video showed her surrounded by supporters. A woman hugs her and tells her to be strong.
“Of course I’m always strong,” she replies.
Tamimi, born into a well-known activist family, gained international fame after footage of her slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers in her village of Nabi Saleh in 2017 went viral and she spent eight months in prison on assault and sedition charges. Her detention drew attention to the issue of Palestinian minors held in Israeli prisons.
Tamimi’s last arrest came on November 6, a month after the start of the war with Gaza. She was one of several Palestinians arrested in the West Bank in early November on suspicion of “involvement in terrorist activities and incitement,” according to Israeli forces. The IDF shared a screenshot of a story allegedly posted on its Instagram account that contained violent threats against settlers in the West Bank.
Tamimi’s mother Nariman denied the allegations against her daughter, telling The Post that the story was not written by Tamimi and that her daughter’s most recent Instagram account was “hacked 10 months ago.”
Tamimi’s father Bassem was arrested a week earlier, said Nariman Tamimi.
Amani Sarahneh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association, told The Post on Tuesday that Ahed Tamimi was being held in Dimona prison.
Dozens of Palestinians have been accused of terrorism or similar charges over messages posted on social media following Hamas’ cross-border attack in Israel on October 7. Hundreds of Palestinian Israelis have been interrogated at their workplaces or universities over their social media posts, according to a human rights group in Haifa, Israel.
The release of Tamimi and 29 other Palestinians came on the sixth consecutive day of prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas since a pause in fighting took effect on Friday. The agreement was originally intended to last four days and provide for the release of 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. However, it has since been extended to allow for further releases.
Tamimi’s image became a fixture on murals and posters around the globe following her arrest in 2017. Her village, Nabi Saleh, has been the scene of weekly protests since Jewish settlers seized part of the land in 2009.
Her defense said the soldiers were part of a group that shot and killed her cousin, Mohammed al-Tamimi, shortly before the incident seen on video in 2017. A senior Israeli military official denied that Mohammed had been shot, despite medical records and witness statements indicating this, The Washington Post reported at the time.
“There is no justice under the occupation,” she told the military court at her sentencing.
Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have argued that the detention of minors from occupied territories inside Israel raises humanitarian concerns.
After serving her sentence, Tamimi came home to a hero’s welcome and a crowd of supporters. “Anyone who also chooses this path should prepare for a prison sentence,” she told reporters.
Israel’s crackdown on free speech: ‘war within a war’
Last week, Israel’s Justice Ministry released a list of 300 prisoners who could be released under the exchange – most of them male and more than a third of them minors. The youngest on the list were 14 years old. On Monday evening, Israel added 50 Palestinian female prisoners to the list who could be released in exchange.
Israel has described the Palestinian prisoners on the lists as “terrorists” in its communications with media organizations. The people on the list are accused of crimes ranging from stone throwing to attempted murder. Many of the people listed have not been formally convicted, which may indicate that they were not tried. Some were held in “administrative detention,” which allows people to be held indefinitely in the occupied West Bank without charge or trial. Human rights groups have raised concerns about the lack of due process in Israel’s justice system, particularly in the country’s military courts.
According to the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, almost a third of Palestinian prisoners are in administrative detention.
How Israel Detains Hundreds of Palestinians Without Charge
Since the start of the current war, Israeli forces have arrested nearly 3,300 people, including some people who were released after a few days, according to Sarahneh of the Palestinian Prisoners Association.
Human rights groups say there has been unprecedented violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank. President Biden condemned the attacks by “extremist settlers” who he said “poured gasoline on an already fragile situation.”
At least 295 attacks on Palestinians by settlers, in many cases accompanied or supported by Israeli forces, have been recorded in the West Bank since October 7, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Wednesday. Most incidents involved damage to Palestinian property, but 33 incidents resulted in Palestinian casualties, the agency added.
As violence among settlers increases, Palestinians in the West Bank fear new displacements
Miriam Berger, Annabelle Timsit, Lior Soroka and Loveday Morris contributed to this report.