Mass bomber, Hamas commander and more… The Palestinian prisoners to be freed by Israel

All eyes are on Israel today (October 13) as Hamas released all 20 of the hostages it has been holding since October 7,2023. The mood in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square is of celebrations and happiness as the 20 hostages now make their way to hospitals where they will be treated and then returned to their families.

But the happiness isn’t restricted to Israel alone. In Gaza, people are awaiting as Israel has begun to release 250 Palestinians and another 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge.

Earlier, Israel said that it will begin releasing Palestinian prisoners once it has confirmation that all hostages held in Gaza have arrived in the country. “Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel,” Shosh Bedrosian told journalists.

More from Explainers

Israel refuses to release most popular Palestinian leader in prisoner-hostage exchange with Hamas Hamas to release all hostages today: What to expect and how will it unfold

Catch all the live updates from the Israel-Hamas ceasefire here

Who’s on this list? What will happen to them? Is Marwan Barghouti, the most popular Palestinian leader set to be released? We get you the answers.

How many prisoners is Israel releasing?

As per Trump’s Gaza peace plan, Israel will release about 250 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom are serving life sentences, and 1,700 Gazans who were detained during the war and were not involved in the attacks of October 7,2023.

However, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office, on Monday, noted that 1,968 prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences, will be freed in exchange for Israeli captives. The media office added that 143 of the prisoners serving life sentences will be released outside the occupied West Bank. Moreover, the Red Cross will facilitate the exchange of prisoners for hostages.

Earlier, the Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli ministers participated in an urgent telephone vote to approve amendments to the list of terrorists and security prisoners to be released.

Editor’s Picks

1

Inside the Israeli ‘homecoming units’, which will treat 20 hostages released by Hamas 2

How the Trump Gaza peace plan could benefit Israel and hurt Hamas in the long run

According to reports, Red Cross buses have arrived at the Israeli prison of Ofer to pick up 108 out of the 250 Palestinian prisoners who will be released to the occupied West Bank.

Who are the Palestinian prisoners to be released?

On Monday, Hamas published a list of over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners it said will be released in the Israel-Hamas war ceasefire. Some of the names included in the list are members of either Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Fatah.

Among the most prominent are:

1. Mahmoud Qawasmeh: He’s a senior Hamas member. He was first released during a 2011 prisoner exchange and then allegedly went on to finance and plan the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, for which he was re-arrested in March 2024.

2. Imad Qawasmeh: A Hamas leader, he’s convicted of directing a double suicide bombing that killed 16 Israelis in 2004. The Prisoners Organization Media Office, he’s one of the “leaders” of the terrorists in prison where he’s serving 16 life sentences.

3. Bilal Ajarmeh: A Fatah operative convicted of conducting 17 shooting attacks along the highway in Israel and arrested by Israeli special forces in the West Bank in 2003.

4. Iyad Abu al Rub: Commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jenin; responsible for multiple suicide bombings in 2003–2005.

5. Baher Badr: A member of Hamas, who was arrested in 2004 with his brother for planning a bus station suicide bombing near an IDF base that killed eight people.

6. Mahmoud Issa: A military commander in Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades, he established its first special operations unit, known as “Special Unit 101,” which was tasked with kidnapping Israeli soldiers to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Issa was responsible for the kidnapping of Sergeant Nissim Toledano near Lod on December 13, 1992.

7. Hilmi Abdul Karim Muhammad Hammash: He was sentenced for coordinating the 2004 Jerusalem street bus suicide bombing that killed 11 Israelis, plus the bomber, and wounded 50 others.

8. Ismail Hamdan: A Fatah member who was convicted in the 2002 kidnapping and shooting death of an Israeli man. He was captured at a check point in the West Bank.

9. Maher al-Hashlamoun: Affiliated to Islamic Jihad, he is serving life sentences for the 2014 murder of Dalia Lemkus, 26, and for the attempted murder of two other people.

There are other Palestinian prisoners who are also set to be released such as 39-year-old Eham Kamamji. He was arrested in 2006 and has been serving a life sentence since his conviction for the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli settler, Eliyahu Asheri. He has been in solitary confinement since 2021, when he was among six Palestinians who temporarily escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison in what Israeli officials said was the largest Palestinian jailbreak in more than two decades.

Will Marwan Barghouti be released? Which other prisoners won’t be freed?

Notably, one of the biggest names that’s missing from the list is that of popular Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti. Hamas has pushed for Barghouti’s release, but the Jewish nation has refused.

But who exactly is Barghouti? Many refer to him as the Palestinian ‘Nelson Mandela’ and last year The Economist described him as “the world’s most important prisoner”.

Barghouti was a political leader during the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000, and survived multiple assassination attempts. But Israel views him as a terrorist leader. He is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted in 2004 in connection with attacks in Israel that killed five people. Some say the Jewish nation fears Barghouti, as he could be a powerful rallying figure for Palestinians

As Eyal Zisser, the vice rector of Tel Aviv University and an expert in Arab-Israeli relations, told the Associated Press, “Barghouti is not connected to the corruption that has plagued Abbas’ Palestinian Authority and turned many against it. His popularity could strengthen Palestinian institutions, a terrifying thought for Israel’s right-wing government, which opposes any steps toward statehood.”

But Barghouti isn’t the only big name not set to be released. Israel has also refused to free Hassan Salama, 54, a senior Hamas figure. He was sentenced to more than 40 life terms in prison for orchestrating suicide bombings in 1996 that killed dozens of Israelis and wounded hundreds, after Israel’s assassination of the militant group’s well-known bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash.

What next?

It’s a bittersweet feeling for many as Israel welcomes homes their hostages and is set to release these prisoners. For instance, Tal Hartuv is experiencing a whole range of emotions. That’s because Iyad Hassan Hussein Fatafta, one of her attackers, is set to be released.

She told the Associated Press, “ I can feel thrilled and hopeful and joyful that our hostages are coming home. But I can still feel angry, I can feel betrayed, I can feel hollow. They’re not mutually exclusive.”

In Palestine and Gaza, there are hundreds who have gathered to see their loved ones after their release. The BBC has also reported that Israel has made it clear it wants to avoid the jubilant scenes that surrounded prisoners arriving here in previous hostage deals, when large crowds waved Hamas flags.

With inputs from agencies