Palestinian man struggles to use smartphone after spending 23 years in Israeli prison

A Palestinian hostage, who spent more than two decades in an Israeli prison, struggled with using a smartphone. He mentioned that after encountering the stark change in phones and seeing the world, he felt like he had been living in a cave.

Osama al-Ashkar spent at least 23 years in an Israeli prison. After his release, he was seen in a video where he was video calling his family, sharing his struggle in using a smartphone.

"I feel like I'm from the Stone Age” he said while expressing his unfamiliarity with smartphones. However, Osama promised himself that he would learn using smartphones as they are a basic necessity and possessed a lot of advantages. 

Osama, who described himself as a university lecturer before being imprisoned by Israel, shared that he used to teach his students that “the guns are not the only weapon for our people but the phone, messages, the song, the pen, the education are also our people’s means.” 

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“But we will get to learn this world. (The phone) is important for delivering our people’s message,” he said. 

Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday in the latest exchange for Israeli hostages, who were captured by Hamas prior to the fragile ceasefire deal. 

Israeli forces had detained hundreds of Palestinians, accused of attacking forces, including throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. These detainees are now being released under the truce.

However, some of them were released in the last few weeks after spending decades in prisons, which Israel described as an essential step to prevent attacks and avoid sharing sensitive intelligence.

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Hassan Aweis, 47, and Abdel Karim Aweis, 54, were detained from the occupied West Bank and were released on Saturday nearly after 23 years in imprisonment. 

“It’s an indescribable feeling of pain mixed with joy,” Aweis said.

The first arrest was made by Israeli forces in 1985 when an activist from the Fateh party was detained while fighting with Israeli forces along the Jordanian border, he spent a total of 39 years behind bars. Originally from the West Bank, he was sent into exile.