Headline Roundup • January 22nd, 2025
Gaza Ceasefire: Israel Releases 90 Palestinian Prisoners, Some Held Without Charges
Summary from the AllSides News Team
While Western media has focused more on the three Israeli hostages freed in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Israel also released 90 Palestinian detainees.
The Details: The prisoners, 69 women and 21 children, returned a day after the Israeli hostages were released. Israel is expected to send 30-50 Palestinians back in exchange for every freed hostage.
Prisoners or Hostages?: Al Jazeera (Lean Left bias) prominently noted that “most” of the prisoners “were detained without charges.” The Daily Mail (Right) wrote that “none the first batch were convicted of major crimes” and “some had been held in ‘administrative detention’, a form of prison without trial.” Euronews (Center) said, “Israel detained them for what it said were offenses related to national security, from throwing stones to more serious accusations like attempted murder.”
How The Media Covered It: The story was not widely covered by the right. Al Jazeera highlighted a quote from a released child prisoner: “They used to violate us, beat us, fire tear gas towards us. There’s no food, no sweets, no salt.” The Daily Mail prominently wrote that Palestinians welcoming the prisoners waved “Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags,” despite the Israeli government warning they could be detained for doing so.
Other Reports: Other recent Palestinian hostage storylines have been sparsely covered by Western media. Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported on January 20 that Israeli police raided the homes of some of the Palestinian prisoners before Israel released them. On January 21, Israel launched a “large-scale” operation in the West Bank, which Western media reported on, though most omitted a detail reported by CNN (Lean Left) – that Israeli forces allegedly “arrested more than 60 people including children.” On January 20, Middle East Eye (Left) reported that Israel dropped a case against five men suspected of killing a Palestinian they took hostage during the October 7 attacks.
Featured Coverage of this Story
The Israeli-occupied West Bank has erupted in celebrations after 90 Palestinian prisoners, most of them women, were released from Israeli jails as part of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Families in the West Bank waited until early on Monday to receive their loved ones, most of whom had been detained without charge.
The ceasefire, which ended Israel’s more than 15-month war on Gaza, also saw the release of three Israeli captives. More captives and prisoners are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Leo Correa/AP
Israel has freed 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, more than seven hours after three Israeli hostages were released by Hamas and returned to Israel.
A large bus carrying dozens of Palestinian detainees exited the gates of Israel’s Ofer prison in the early hours of Monday morning, just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah.
According to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority's Commission for Prisoners' Affairs, all of those released are women or minors.
Jubilant crowds waving Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags defied a ban on celebrations to welcome 90 Palestinian prisoners home to the West Bank yesterday.
The Israeli government had warned that ‘public displays of joy’ could lead to the detainees being re-arrested.
But thousands lined the streets, shouting and whistling, as three Red Cross buses delivered the 69 women and 21 boys - some as young as 12 - to the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
