RAMALLAH: Thousands of Palestinian families are caught between hopes that prisoners in Zionist jails could be freed in a swap for hostages held by Hamas, and horror over the Zionist entity’s bombardment of Gaza. Wafa Abu Ghoulmi said she loves her husband Ahmed, who is serving nine life sentences over the 2001 assassination of a Zionist minister, and wants to see him. But she is also suffering as she watches her fellow Palestinians murdered by the Zionist attack on Gaza. "When I saw the deaths, the destruction, the families torn apart in Gaza, I felt pain,” she told AFP at her home in the occupied West Bank.

The Zionist authorities say more than 230 hostages were taken captive by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during an attack on occupied areas near the Gaza-Zionist border. The Oct 7 attack left 1,400 dead. In response, the Zionist entity has declared ‘war’ on Hamas, pounding the Gaza Strip with air and ground attacks that claimed more than 8,500 lives, including more than 5,600 women and children, according to Gaza medics.

Intensified crackdown

Since the Zionist bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip began on Oct 7, occupation forces have also intensified their nightly raids into Palestinian homes, villages and cities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. In the past 25 days, the Zionist occupation has doubled the number of Palestinians in its custody, from 5,200 people to more than 10,000.

According to Al Jazeera, this includes at least 4,000 laborers from Gaza who were working in the Zionist entity and who have been detained mainly in military bases. Separately, Zionist forces have also arrested 1,740 other Palestinians in overnight army raids in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club. Most of these prisoners are reportedly being held under laws and military orders that allow detention without trial or charge.

The last Zionist-Palestinian prisoner swap took place in October 2011 when 1,027 Palestinians were exchanged for Zionist-French soldier Gilad Shalit, who spent five years detained in Gaza. Two Zionist men who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015 are believed still detained. The Hamas chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar — himself freed as part of the Shalit deal — said Saturday that Hamas was ready for an "immediate” exchange.

US commandos dispatched

The hostages have become a hot-button issue for the Zionist government, with pressure building since Hamas said it was ready to free its detainees if all Palestinians in Zionist jails are released. Families of the hostages have, in several press appearances, demanded cease fire and expressed concern about the effect that the intensifying attacks on Gaza would likely have on the well-being of the hostages.

Hamas has freed four women and said late Monday that more foreign detainees would be released in coming days. The Zionist army said Monday it had rescued one detained soldier in Gaza during an incursion. According to Hamas, 50 of the hostages have been killed in Zionist strikes on Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far showed no public interest in the Hamas offer. A senior Pentagon official told the New York Times on Tuesday that the US has sent special forces to assist the Zionist occupation in finding the hostages. Christopher Maier, an assistant secretary of defense, indicated that commandos have been deployed to help the Zionists "do a number of things.”

‘Horrific’ situation

Palestinian prisoners currently held in Zionist custody are at risk of death, according to an Al Jazeera report, which quoted recently released prisoners, as well as prisoner rights groups, lawyers’ groups and official institutions. Since Oct 7, two Palestinian prisoners have died while in Zionist custody shortly after they were arrested, and at least dozens have been injured. Several videos have also emerged in recent weeks of Zionist soldiers beating, stepping on, abusing and humiliating detained Palestinians who have been blindfolded, stripped either partially or entirely, and have their hands cuffed.

"The situation inside the prisons is horrific,” Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Society told Al Jazeera. "We are receiving information of daily mass beatings of the prisoners. They (Zionist authorities) are threatening to kill them,” she told Al Jazeera, adding that "no one has been spared.” In addition to severe beatings, Zionist prison authorities halted medical attention for Palestinian prisoners for at least the first week after Oct 7, including to those who had been beaten, according to rights groups.

Khalida Abu Sattha, 45, hopes she will soon see her husband Mohammad — imprisoned for life since 2001. She says she has been glued to her TV since Oct 7, pondering how each development will affect her husband. But she wonders whether she will greet him "with tears of joy or sadness for all the deaths”.

Abu Sattha said she only diverts her gaze to answer phone calls from "loved-ones and friends or families of prisoners who say they hope for a new exchange with (the Zionists)”. She is certain it will happen, but also dreads the thought. "Our happiness would not be complete; we’ll have the looks of the families of the victims of the war hanging over our head.” — Agencies