CAIRO, Egypt — He entered prison 21 years ago for planning a deadly suicide bombing. He left prison in October as an award-winning novelist.

Bassem Khandaqji, 41, was one of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees released by Israel in the Gaza ceasefire deal . In exchange, Hamas released the remaining living hostages captured when the militant group attacked southern Israel in October 2023.

Khandaqji was serving three life terms in an Israeli prison for dispatching a suicide bomber to an outdoor market in Tel Aviv in 2004, killing three Israeli civilians.

In prison, Khandaqji wrote several works of fiction including A Mask the Color of the Sky . It won Arabic literature's most prestigious fiction prize last year. The novel is coming out in English in March.

"I try t

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