The Israeli authorities released on Monday the oldest Palestinian prisoner, Major General Fouad Al-Shobaki, 84, from Askalan prison after 17 years in captivity, the Palestinian Ma'an Agency reported.

According to the Palestinian News Agency Wafa, in addition to battling prostate cancer, Al-Shobaki also suffers from numerous health issues in his eyes, stomach, and heart, in addition to high blood pressure.

Local Palestinian websites circulated videos of Al-Shobaki raising the sign of victory. Fouad Hijazi Muhammad Al-Shobaki was born in Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza on March 12, 1940. He is also a politician, a military general, and a member of the Fatah movement.

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مصادر محلية : "لحظة استقبال شيخ الأسرى اللواء فؤاد الشوبكي (83 عامًا) بعد 17 عامًا قضاها في سجون الاحتلال" pic.twitter.com/oUj8gFfZr1

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) March 13, 2023

In a statement, the Palestinian Hamas movement congratulated Al-Shobaki upon his release from the Israeli occupation prison.

"We renew our vow to our prisoners that their cause will remain our top priority until their liberation from the prisons of the Israeli occupation."

Al-Shobaki served as a Major General in the Palestinian security forces where he was responsible for the central military financial administration in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia.

The Israeli occupation accused him of being the mastermind behind an attempt to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip back in 2002 on a ship called Karen A. The Palestinian Authority then, under the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, was also accused of being behind the attempt.

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Karen A, the ship allegedly carrying weapons, was raided and apprehended by Israeli special forces in the Red Sea on January 3, 2002, under an operation dubbed "Noah's Ark".

To deny these accusations and confirm that the Palestinian Authority had nothing to do with the ship, Arafat placed Al-Shobaki under arrest in a prison in the city of Ariha, where he was under British and American supervision.

After Arafat's death in 2004, the IOF invaded Areeha and kidnapped Al-Shobaki from the Palestinian prison. He was arrested along with the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, in addition to their comrades, Ahed Abu Ghulamy, Hamdi Qaraan, Basil Asmar, Majdi Al-Rimawi, and Yasser Abu Turki; a group belonging to the Popular Front whom "Israel" accuses of assassinating the Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.

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The occupation military court sentenced him to 20 years in prison, which was later reduced to 17 years.

In 2011, Al-Shobaki was denied by the Israeli occupation to attend his wife's funeral after her passing, leaving six children behind living as orphans.

The Israeli authorities refused the early release of the elderly prisoner 8 months before he completed his unjust sentence despite his deteriorating critical health condition.