Pakistan likely to host Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been included among the countries being considered to host Palestinian prisoners who were exiled to Egypt after their release from Israeli jails under a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States.

According to AFP, while most of the prisoners have returned to Gaza and the West Bank, 154 former detainees were exiled and transported by bus to Egypt. Egyptian authorities have reportedly placed them in a five-star hotel, where they are not allowed to leave without permission.

Sources said that Qatar, Turkiye, and Malaysia are also among the countries that may host these prisoners.

Following a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States — which took effect on October 10 — Hamas released all 20 surviving Israeli hostages in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Egypt, which maintains formal diplomatic ties with Israel, played a key mediating role in the prisoner exchange.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have been released in similar swaps during previous ceasefire agreements.

Egypt first accepted 150 of these prisoners in January. More than eight months later, most remain confined in the same hotel, with no clear decision made about their future.

The men currently held in Cairo were convicted by Israeli military courts of charges including murder and membership in resistance organisations.

However, UN experts have repeatedly condemned such rulings as unjust, describing them as part of decades-long discriminatory trials against Palestinians in occupied territories.

International human rights organisations have also criticised Israeli courts, arguing they are part of the occupation system and deny Palestinians the basic right to a fair trial.

The exiled former prisoners in Cairo now face new challenges — they lack freedom of movement, work permits, and clarity about their next destination. The Egyptian government has not yet issued an official statement regarding their legal status.

Murad Abu Rab, 45, who was accused of killing four Israeli soldiers during a 2006 operation by the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, told *AFP* that no Arab country was willing to accept them.

“We were separated from our families for 20 years, and now we live in uncertainty,” he said. “Even after release, nothing has changed — I still can’t see my mother or siblings. When I was arrested, my younger sister was 15, and when I saw her on a video call, I didn’t recognise her.”

During his 19 years of imprisonment, Abu Rab was transferred among eight different Israeli jails, never staying in one for more than a few months.

Another former inmate, who spent 22 years behind bars on charges of murder and affiliation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, described his final hours in prison as “the most agonising moments” of his life.

“Dozens of us were tied up with ropes,” he said. “They blindfolded us, made us kneel, then forced us face down on the ground and bound our hands.”

Mahmoud al-Arda, 50, who was imprisoned for murder and alleged links to Islamic Jihad, said the last two years of his sentence were the worst of his life, marked by daily beatings and humiliation.

According to the Palestinian Authority, nearly 11,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli custody on charges related to the conflict. Discussions are ongoing about the possible resettlement of the exiled detainees in countries such as Pakistan, said Hasan Abdul Rabbo, adding that all the men are still staying in Egypt, with Qatar covering their living expenses.