Ramallah: Israel has released Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas and one of the movement’s most prominent figures in the occupied West Bank, after more than two years in administrative detention.
His son, Owais Yousef, told AFP that he was released near Hebron and later transferred to a hospital in Ramallah.
Photos and videos shared after his release showed the 71-year-old with a bandaged hand and one arm in a sling. The cause of the injury was not immediately known.
Yousef had been in Israeli custody since October 19, 2023, when he was arrested at his home near Ramallah during a wider campaign against Hamas members in the West Bank following the October 7 attack and the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Long history of arrests
Yousef has spent decades navigating arrests, detentions and political activism. His latest imprisonment marked the sixteenth time he had been detained by Israeli authorities, according to Palestinian sources.
Yousef helped establish Hamas in the late 1980s alongside Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He served as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council after being elected in 2006 and has remained a key political figure within Hamas. In 1992, he was among hundreds of Palestinian activists deported by Israel to Marj al-Zohour in southern Lebanon. The deportees were permitted to return a year later following international criticism of the move.
Palestinian media reported Yousef has spent more than 25 years in Israeli prisons over the course of his political career.
Administrative detention under scrutiny
His release has renewed attention on Israel’s use of administrative detention, a policy that allows individuals to be held for extended periods without formal charges or trial.
According to Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, administrative detention is based on security assessments and evidence that is generally not disclosed to detainees or their lawyers.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club recently estimated that around 9,500 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, with the number of administrative detainees rising sharply since the start of the Gaza conflict.
