Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied by a number of Hamas officials, visited on Friday evening Abdel Halim al-Badawi to congratulate him on his release from Israeli prisons.

Al-Badawi, a Palestinian detainee from Rafah in southern Gaza, has been released from Israeli prisons on Thursday after being imprisoned for 18 years.

Israeli occupation is holding about 5,700 Palestinian detainees, nearly 340 of whom are from Gaza, according to human rights groups.