Israeli forces early Sunday detained a former Palestinian prisoner who was released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal, according to a local prisoners’ committee.
Fahd Sharaya was detained from the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the coordinator for a local Palestinian prisoners’ committee, Imad al-Din Ishteiwi, told Ma’an.
Sharaya was initially sentenced to 14 years in jail but released in the Shalit exchange in 2011 after serving 10 years.
The former prisoner is a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades — a military wing of the Fatah movement — and is married with four children, Ishteiwi said, adding that Sharaya was in poor health at the time of his re-arrest.
An Israeli army spokesperson had no immediate information on Sharaya’s detention.
Several Palestinians released during the Shalit deal have since been rearrested or exiled to the Gaza Strip. Over 1,000 Palestinian detainees were released in the Egypt-brokered 2011 agreement between Hamas and Israel in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held captive by Hamas for five years.
At least 50 Shalit-deal prisoners were rearrested in the summer of 2014 during a detention campaign referred to as “Operation Brother’s Keeper,” in which Israeli forces detained at least 800 Palestinians without charge or trial and killed nine civilians.
At the time of their re-arrest, Shalit-deal prisoners released a statement contesting Israel’s violation of the deal, saying they had demonstrated commitment to its terms.
Nine other Palestinians were also detained in the occupied West Bank in Israeli raids early Sunday, an Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an.
Four of those detained were from the Jenin area, while two “Hamas operatives” were detained from the Bethlehem and Hebron areas.
The PLO Department of Arab Relations told Ma’an that a director in the department, Ismail al-Amsi, was also detained near the Ramallah-area Jaba military checkpoint.
At least 6,700 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails, according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer.
(Maan)