Israeli authorities released on Thursday the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner Karim Younis after spending 40 years behind bars, the official news agency WAFA reported.

Younis, a 66-year-old Fatah official from the Arab-Israeli town of Ara, was detained on January 6, 1983, for his resistance to the Israeli occupation. He was sentenced to life in prison, which was later commuted to 40 years.

After spending 40 years in an Israeli prison, Karim Younis was finally released on Thursday, January 5, and he could visit his mother's graveyard.#Palestine #Israeli #palestinianprisoners🇵🇸✊ pic.twitter.com/i3W4TaKTPI

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 5, 2023

He was supposed to have been freed in 2014, along with his cousin Maher Younis, in a deal brokered by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry.

However, Israel reneged on its promise and refused to free them.

(PC, WAFA, SOCIAL)