Who are the Palestinian prisoners on Israel's list for release?

During a four-day ceasefire in conflict in Gaza, the Israeli government stated it would release 150 Palestinian inmates in exchange for the release of 50 Hamas hostages. The deal between the Israeli government and Hamas was brokered by Qatar. The United States has also played an important role in the negotiations during the last six weeks. Following the announcement of the agreement, Israel’s Justice Ministry produced a list of 300 Palestinian detainees who could be set free under the agreement. The timing of the prospective deal is unknown, and the hostage release would not begin before Friday, according to Tzachi Hanegbi, director of Israel’s National Security Council. Here’s what we know about the Palestinians on the list and their possible release. Who are the people likely to be released? Under the terms of the deal, the first phase will see 50 Israeli hostages released over the course of four days, with 150 security detainees to be freed in response. An AFP examination of the names found that 33 were women, 123 were boys under 18, and 144 were 18-year-old men. The youngest was 14-year-old Adam Abuda Hassan Gheit from annexed east Jerusalem, who was arrested in May for “hostile sabotage activity, attacking a police officer and throwing stones”. [caption id=“attachment_13419642” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Activists protest Israel’s war with Hamas, in the Hart Senate Office Building, on Capitol Hill. AP[/caption] The oldest was a 59-year-old woman called Hanan Salah Abdallah Barghuti, who was arrested in September for “Hamas activity including money transfers”, it said. It identified 49 as Hamas members, 60 as belonging to Fatah, the party which leads the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, and 17 as being affiliated with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The others had no affiliation specified. The most prominent individual on the list is Israa Jaabis, 38, who was convicted of detonating a gas cylinder in her car at a checkpoint in 2015, wounding a police officer. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison. What are the terms of the deal? The ceasefire will take place first, allowing Hamas fighters to gather the first batch of 50 hostages for release to the International Committee of the Red Cross, most likely in small groups. In exchange, Israel would release 150 Palestinian detainees. **Also Read: How Israel's Unit 504 is uncovering Hamas presence in Gaza** If Hamas agrees to free more hostages, Israel could free more prisoners from the list, the ratio being three prisoners to each hostage. Israeli rights group HaMoked welcomed the deal. “Holding people as hostages is itself illegal, a war crime, and Hamas should release all the hostages unconditionally,” its executive director Jessica Montell said in a statement, adding it was “appropriate that Israel release prisoners and detainees to advance this goal”. Most of those to be released were “detainees still awaiting trial, on charges that range from incitement to stone-throwing to attempted murder”, she said, adding that the list also included women and teenagers held without charge or trial in so-called administrative detention. “These people should also have been released unconditionally, so a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian administrative detainees is doubly welcome,” she said. [caption id=“attachment_13419652” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A woman looks at photographs of hostages, mostly Israeli civilians who were abducted during the 7 October, unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, in Ramat Gan, Israel. AP[/caption] Israel has also stated that the ceasefire would be prolonged by one day for every 10 additional hostages returned by Hamas. Following the release of Hamas hostages, aid deliveries to Gaza will also considerably increase. After the release, hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel are anticipated to enter Gaza from Egypt. What are these prisoners guilty of? The persons on the list are accused of crimes ranging from throwing stones to attempted murder, according to the Washington Post, but it is unclear how serious many of the accusations are. The entries on the list describe the accusations with little information, and many of the people named have not been formally sentenced, suggesting that they did not stand trial, reports the Post. **Also Read: Israel-Hamas war: What the world can learn from India** Human rights organisations have expressed concern over a lack of due process in Israel’s judicial system, particularly in the country’s military courts. Many of the women on the list are accused of stabbings in high-profile incidents. Nafoz Hamad, the youngest woman on the list, was found guilty of attempted murder after stabbing her neighbour in East Jerusalem, as per the Washington Post. Another lady was arrested for reportedly using scissors to harm an Israeli soldier. The Israeli government has refused to release murderers, but a number of persons accused of attempted murder have been identified. Some people are identified as members of Palestinian militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, although how that connection is assessed is unclear. One of the 14-year-old boys is listed as a member of Hamas. With inputs from AFP