Israel Exchanges Palestinian Prisoners, Detainees for Hostages in Gaza

0:01Today on State of the World, the exchange of Israeli hostages and the release of Palestinian detainees.

0:12You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, October 14th. I'm Christine Aerosmith. In a moment, we'll visit Israel to hear about the special care being given to the newly released hostages. First, as part of the initial phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire plan, in exchange for the living and dead hostages in Gaza. Israel released nearly 2 ,000 prisoners and detainees into Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where they were greeted with cheers as well as many tears. NPR's Carrie Khan reports, and a warning, the report has moments of gunfire.

0:59The huge crowd waiting at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza erupted into celebratory gunfire as buses carrying more than 1 ,700 Palestinian detainees made their way slowly through the throngs of people. Joao Saeed Amdin stepped off the bus. He says he was detained in December of 2023, just months after the war started. Like all of those released yesterday, he was never charged. Israel says they are, quote, unlawful combatants. He's 38 and says he was born in 1987.

1:37But I'm not observing that birth date anymore, he says. I've been reborn today. He says he cannot describe the happiness he's feeling, but like so many, he quickly turns to all he's lost and all that Gaza has lost. A smaller scene of returned prisoners was taking place in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians serving long and life sentences in Israeli prisons were also released. Authorities warned families not to celebrate. The family of prisoner Ra 'ad Ahmad, Abdallah Abu Dhar, were given a personal warning.

2:16The night before the release, his mother, 64-year-old Fatma, says some 20 Israeli soldiers broke into their homes and threatened them. They were told not to celebrate or speak to the media, and she says they beat up one of her sons. In the end, her son Ra 'ad was not released. He was deported like most of the 250 prisoners with life sentences. According to the Israeli police authority, her son was convicted of being an explosives engineer and coordinator of terrorist attacks. He's been in prison for more than two decades and now he is in Egypt, she says. Thank God he's free, she says repeatedly.

2:58but she says there are no words to describe the pain in her heart for not being able to see him.

3:07At the Ishti Shari Arab Hospital in Ramallah, Dr. Loe Abu Raya attends to 12 of the prisoners brought here after the release. All are malnourished, he said, and reintroducing food has to be managed carefully. The first thing we told them is to start just a small amount of food and then gradually to start to eat much slowly. Many had scars, bruising and signs of healed broken bones, he says. When asked by NPR about the condition of prisoners, Israeli prison officials said all were treated in accordance to the law. Kerry Khan, NPR News, Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

3:53Now to Tel Aviv, where the last 20 living hostages in Gaza are now free. Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered to celebrate on Monday after just over two agonizing years of war. The freed hostages have been taken to hospitals in Israel that have developed an expertise in treating released captives. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Central Israel on what the hostages' first few days of freedom look like. Helicopter by helicopter, freed hostages landed to cheering crowds at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv.

4:38We visited a few days ago as the hospital was preparing to receive them. Dr. Michal Steinman, head of nursing, has cared for other freed hostages a few times before in the war. Usually I'm telling them, Welcome home. I'm so glad and you're in good hands. You're in good hands. You came home. Five of the freed hostages have come to this hospital. They're all men in their 20s and 30s, all abducted from a music festival, the site of the single deadliest Hamas attack on October 7th, two years ago. They each get new cell phones and ID cards, and each one gets three rooms, a living room for visitors, a room for their families, and their own private room.

5:19This is a room of a hostage. The bathroom is stocked with fancy body lotions and slippers. Their families decorate the room with some of their favorite things. The bed has anti-allergenic sheets. We ordered them from special cotton because when you came back from hundreds of days of captivity, we learned to understand that there's a lot of skin problems. The last time hostages were freed was this winter. They'd spent about 500 days in captivity. Freed hostages spoke about being starved by their captors, held in underground tunnels. Today's hostages were freed after more than 700 days in captivity, some very thin.

6:00Steinmann says they'll work with a nutritionist to slowly increase their appetite. I think it's a mechanism of the body because you've been starved for so long, you just lost the passion for food. Besides their physical health, there's also their mental health to look after. The hospital's head social worker, Karen Karina Schwartz, helps families reconnect to their freed relatives after two years in Gaza. Everyone is different. There are people that will come back and tell you everything in five minutes. And we meet people that, until today, don't want to talk about what happened there. She advises families to be sensitive.

6:38She's seen some families ask their freed loved ones too many questions, and other families not ask anything. If he sits in the room and tells you that you've been through a difficult thing in captivity, and you don't say anything, it's the loudest quiet in the world. The loudest quiet in the world. They endured the longest stretch of captivity, but have returned knowing they're the last ones, leaving no living hostages behind in Gaza. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Petah Tigva, Israel.

7:24That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.