When Gaza Ceasefire agreement After the agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced on January 15, Ghassan Alyan says his first feeling was relief that the mass killing of his citizens might finally end.

Like everyone in the occupied West Bank, Alian was looking forward to celebrating the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released in the coming days in exchange for the release of three Israeli prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement.

But the next day – January 16, three days before the ceasefire went into effect – Israeli soldiers raided Alyan’s home in Bethlehem and kidnapped his 22-year-old son Adam, who was supposed to take university exams in the coming days. .

“They took him for no reason,” Alyan, 60, told Al Jazeera by phone. There was no way to defend him or my family.

“We are not saboteurs,” he said, meaning they were not resisting or causing disturbances.

Since the ceasefire was announced in Gaza, Israel has arrested at least 95 Palestinians in raids and at checkpoints for no apparent reason across the West Bank, according to Gina Abu Hasna, a researcher at Addameer, a Palestinian civil society organization that monitors arrests and detentions in Gaza. Occupied territories.

Many of them were arrested in the few days before the start of the ceasefire, which took effect on January 19.

The mass imprisonment of Palestinians is just one feature of Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank, which also involves expanding illegal Israeli settlements and violating international law. Mass killings, injuries and displacement of civiliansAccording to human rights groups and families of prisoners.

“The situation we are living in is really difficult right now. We are being treated like slaves…or even less than slaves,” Alyan said from his home.

An instrument of oppression

Since Israel captured and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel has – About 800,000 Palestinians were imprisoned throughout the occupied territories, According to the United Nations and B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

“[Mass incarceration] “It is part of the apartheid system,” B’Tselem spokesperson Sharon Barnes told Al Jazeera.

He added: “It is part of an attempt to make the lives of Palestinians miserable in order to make them want to leave.”

Abu Hasna of Addameer also said that Israel has a track record of rearresting dozens — and sometimes hundreds — of Palestinians who were released in “prisoner deals.” Sometimes this happens immediately after the deal is made, sometimes months or even years later.

She referred to the prisoner deal to return Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas during a cross-border raid and returned to Gaza in 2005.

Five years later, Shalit was finally released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, who helped coordinate the October 7 attacks and whom Israel killed. He was killed in Gaza In October of last year.

Three years later, Israel They raided homes and re-arrested dozens of Palestinians Who was released in the Shalit deal for no apparent reason.

Moreover, Israel Arrest and re-arrest of hundreds of people in Abu Hasna said that the West Bank has since concluded a captive deal with Hamas during a temporary ceasefire between the two warring parties in November 2023.

She told Al Jazeera: “The method of detaining Palestinians, even during the agreement or when there is an exchange of prisoners, is not something new.”

“[The Israeli] She added: “The occupation continues to arrest Palestinians on the same day the prisoners are released, and sometimes days or years later, because this is what the occupation does: it violates international law.”

Revolving door

Despite the recent arrests, many Palestinian families were able to do so Welcome your loved ones home After the last prisoner exchange on January 20.

Muhammad Amr, a 55-year-old father of seven who lives in Hebron, said he was finally reunited with his 23-year-old daughter, Jenin, who was kidnapped in the middle of the night from the family home during an Israeli bombing operation. The raid on December 3, 2023 – less than two months after the start of the war on Gaza.

He still remembers the horrific events of that night, which have become a familiar experience for many Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank.

Amr told Al Jazeera that the occupation soldiers broke the door, stormed her, and then kidnapped her from her bed.

Janine was taken into custody Administrative detentionIt is a process inherited from the United Kingdom’s colonial mandate in Palestine that lasted from 1920 until 1948. During that period, the United Kingdom often imprisoned Palestinian critics and resistance fighters without cause, without trial, and on secret charges.

When Israel gained a state after expelling the Palestinians from their lands in 1948 – an event referred to as the Nakba – it combined this process in order to try the Palestinians in military courts rather than the civilian courts where Israelis are tried.

Amr said that his daughter still does not know of any charges against her, and says that she was subjected to severe mistreatment in prison. “From the day she was taken until the day she was released, Janine slept and woke up on the cold floor every night. Her room was also very freezing… and she was constantly afraid.”

Threats and intimidation

Amr was one of hundreds of people waiting in the cold for about 10 hours in Beitunia in the West Bank Palestinian prisoners from the prisoner exchange They were released.

The prisoners were supposed to be released around 4pm (14:00 GMT) in the late afternoon of January 19, but this was postponed until 2am (00:00 GMT) the following morning. When he finally saw Janine staggering out of the house, he immediately saw that she had lost a lot of weight and had dark bags under her eyes from sleep deprivation.

Amr quickly took his daughter home so she could rest and get a good night’s sleep after spending more than a year in prison.

“She was psychologically traumatized,” Amr told Al Jazeera. “She was unable to fully explain how she was treated in prison.”

The next day, Israeli soldiers knocked on Amr’s door and warned him not to hold a party or celebrate Janine’s release, otherwise they would arrest her again.

He promised he wouldn’t do it, but he remains terrified that Israeli soldiers will break into his house again to arrest Jenin or one of his other children.

He explained that part of living under occupation is realizing that your loved ones could be arrested at any time for no apparent reason.

“There is a lot of fear right now because of the escalating situation in the West Bank,” he said resignedly.

“Every day is an occupation [army] Between 30 to 40 or even 50 new prisoners are arrested.”