When he realized that an agreement had just been signed between Hamas and the Israeli government on Wednesday, January 15, Alaa Shahani's husband rushed for cans of paint. Quick! He had to paint the living room walls in broad green and purple stripes in honor of his soon-to-be-reunited wife.

It was to a brand-new décor and the heady smell of solvents that the 37-year-old woman was welcomed on Wednesday, January 22, three days after her release from Damon prison. The facility, located on Mount Carmel near Haifa, houses Palestinian women prisoners accused of undermining national security. Shahani spent six months of her 18-month sentence there before being released as part of the first phase of the agreement to exchange 33 Israeli hostages for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

The reason for her incarceration? "Incitement to violence," she said, lowering her eyelids fleetingly, her black headscarf tightly framing her youthful face.

On October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel that led to the deaths of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 others, Shahani used professional communication channels to express her joy on Facebook. As director of the cultural department of the town hall in Beitunia, near Ramallah in the West Bank, she announced the cancellation of an event scheduled for that evening due to what she called the "morning of pride and dignity." Over the following days, she posted additional messages in a similar tone, including a note on October 10, praying for "God to turn the earth into hell under the feet of the Zionists."

You have 75.16% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.