Mahmud Sarsak, a Palestinian footballer who staged a hunger strike of nearly three months while in an Israeli jail, was freed on Tuesday and returned to the Gaza Strip. An AFP journalist saw the 25-year-old enter the Palestinian territory in a Red Cross ambulance to be greeted by hundreds of people, including relatives, who waved Palestinian flags and pictures of other prisoners.
Tens of them surrounded the ambulance chanting "Victory, victory!" and "Freedom for the prisoners!"
"I cannot describe my joy," Sarsak told journalists in Beit Hanun. "But at the same time I cannot forget the cries of the prisoners who are still in Israeli prisons." "This is a victory for the prisoners and I thank all the Palestinian, Arab and international bodies and people who stood up for me," he said.
His mother told AFP she was proud of her son's "victory in the empty-stomach battle." "I am proud Mahmud won over the Israeli prison guards and hope all prisoners will be released," she said.
Sarsak was taken to Gaza City's Shifa hospital, which said he was weak but in good condition. He then returned to his home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, for a celebration in his honour. Sarsak went on hunger strike for nearly three months in protest against his detention without charge under Israel's "unlawful combatants" law, which is the equivalent of administrative detention but for people who are not West Bank residents.