A Palestinian boy was shot dead by the Israeli army in Nablus

Israel releases the Palestinian "dean of prisoners" after 40 years of imprisonment

Prisoner Karim Younes upon his return to his hometown of Ara, adjacent to the village of Arara.

EPA

Yesterday, Israel released a Palestinian from inside Israel, who spent 40 years in its prisons, on charges of killing a soldier in 1983, and he is the first Palestinian to spend this continuous period in Israeli prisons, according to what the Palestinian Prisoners Club announced.

This coincided with the killing of a Palestinian boy by the Israeli army during clashes in the West Bank city of Nablus.

In detail, the detainee Karim Yunis, (64 years old), was received in his village of Ara, adjacent to the Arab village of Arara inside Israel, carried on his shoulders, and he was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh on his shoulders, and he was carrying the Palestinian flag.

Yunus told reporters in his village, Ara, after his release, "40 years full of tales and stories, and the stories of prisoners are the story of an entire people. I am proud that I was among those who offered and sacrificed for the sake of Palestine, and we are ready to offer more for the sake of the freedom of Palestine."

Yunus was arrested with his cousin Maher in 1983 on charges of killing an Israeli soldier and transporting weapons for the benefit of the Fatah movement.

He expects his cousin to be released after two weeks.

Yunus holds Israeli citizenship, and he is a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He was elected by the movement's members while he was in prison, and the Palestinians call him the "dean of prisoners."

And the new Israeli Interior Minister, Aryeh Deri, announced on Tuesday that he wanted to revoke Israeli citizenship from him and his cousin, noting that this measure is illegal in Israel.

"It is unacceptable that such people continue to hold Israeli citizenship," he said.

Stripping them of their nationality will be an important message for those who have become symbols because of their actions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Yunus on his release, as well as Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, who said about Yunus on his page that he "came out of the belly of the whale."

Younes is one of 25 Palestinian detainees who have been detained by Israel since before the Oslo agreement, which was signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization with Israel in 1993. They were supposed to be released, but negotiations stalled over that.

The family of Younis, whose parents died while in prison, expressed their happiness at his release.

In the West Bank, the Israeli army killed a Palestinian boy yesterday during clashes in the city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli army said that "armed suspects opened fire at the soldiers, who responded with live ammunition" during an operation to arrest two people.

A statement from the Ministry of Health said, "The boy, Amer Abu Zeitun, 16, was killed after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a raid and arrest operation in the city of Nablus in the West Bank at dawn yesterday."

The official Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) reported that Abu Zeitun was killed during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers during an army raid.

The Israeli police said that a joint force of soldiers, border police and members of the Shin Bet arrested two wanted persons in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.

She added that Palestinian gunmen attacked the forces, who returned fire.

It confirmed that the forces shot an armed person, who fired at the forces from a nearby location.

Abuziton is the fourth Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.

There are fears of an escalation of violence in the West Bank, after the new Israeli government took office last week, the most right-wing government in Israel's history headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.

For their part, the Arab and Islamic countries called yesterday on the UN Security Council to issue, during its meeting on the "Palestinian issue", an explicit condemnation of the visit made by the new Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, to the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which sparked widespread condemnation.

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