Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?

Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?
A Palestinian prisoner greets relatives at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip early on February 27, 2025, following his release by Israeli authorities.(AFP)
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Updated 27 February 2025
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Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?

Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?
  • Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages overnight without any public display, and Israel released the 600 prisoners

JERUSALEM: Israel released about 600 prisoners overnight, including the longest-serving prisoner and a man convicted of killing an American peace activist, in the latest exchange for Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
They were supposed to have been released last weekend after Hamas freed six living hostages. But Israel delayed the release to protest Hamas’ practice of parading the captives before crowds during handovers. Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages overnight without any public display.
Israel released the 600 prisoners, but the Palestinian prisoners club, a group representing current and former prisoners, said Israel held back the release of 24 Palestinians detained in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked the war. They include 23 teenagers and men aged 15 to 19 and a woman who is 35. The group were set to be released later on Thursday, along with 22 more minors and one woman whose names were subsequently added to the list.
Israel views the prisoners as terrorists. Palestinians often see them as freedom fighters resisting a decades-long Israeli military occupation.
Nearly every Palestinian has a friend or family member who has been jailed by Israel for militant attacks or lesser offenses such as rock-throwing. Most are convicted in military trials that rights advocates say often lack due process. Some are incarcerated for months or years without trial in what is known as administrative detention. Israel says it’s needed to prevent attacks and avoid sharing sensitive intelligence.
Among those being released overnight into Thursday, 151 had been sentenced to life or long sentences for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. Forty-three were to be returned to the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, while 97 were to be sent into exile.
Around 500 others had been detained in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war.
Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of people in Gaza and held them without trial. As part of the ceasefire, Israel committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees who hadn’t participated in the Oct. 7 attack.
A look at some prominent prisoners released since the truce took effect on Jan. 19:
Nael Barghouti, 68
Barghouti, 68, from the West Bank village of Kobar, has spent over 45 years in Israeli prison and was serving a life sentence. Guinness World Records has called him the world’s longest-serving political prisoner. Israel says he is affiliated with Hamas.
First arrested in 1978 for his role in an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver, he was among more than 1,000 prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas in Gaza. Israel re-arrested Barghouti in 2014 and says his offenses include intentional manslaughter, membership in an illegal organization, producing a bomb, possessing explosives and conspiracy. He will be deported.
Bilal Abu Ghanem, 31
Ghanem, 31, from east Jerusalem, was serving three life sentences and 60 years for a bus attack in 2015 that killed three Israelis. One of those killed was Richard Lakin, an American educator who marched for civil rights and coexistence between Muslims and Jews.
Ghanem, who Israel says is affiliated with Hamas, will be deported. Israel says his offenses include intentional manslaughter, membership in an illegal organization, building a bomb, possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Ammar Al-Ziben, 50
Al-Ziben, 50, is from Nablus, in the West Bank. He was sentenced to 27 life terms for planning a bombing in a Jerusalem market in 1997 that killed 16 people, including a US citizen.
Israel says he is affiliated with Hamas and his offenses include possession of firearms, incitement, forgery, throwing firebombs and attempted murder. He will be deported.
Ahmed Barghouti, 48
He is a close aide of militant leader and political figure Marwan Barghouti, who is still imprisoned. The two aren’t closely related.
Ahmed Barghouti was given 13 life sentences for dispatching assailants to carry out attacks that killed Israeli civilians during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in the early 2000s. As a commander in Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah Party, he was also convicted of possession of firearms and attempted murder.
He was sent to Egypt.
The Sarahneh brothers
Three brothers from east Jerusalem were released after more than 22 years in prison for their involvement in suicide bombings that killed Israelis during the second intifada. Israeli authorities brought Ibrahim, 55, and Musa, 63, to their homes in the West Bank.
The third brother, Khalil, 45, who was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life in 2002, was sent to Egypt.
Ibrahim Sarahneh’s Ukrainian wife, Irena, had been sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for organizing with her husband a suicide bombing that killed two people in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. She was released in 2011 as part of a swap for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
The Aweis brothers
Hassan Aweis, 47, and Abdel Karim Aweis, 54, from the occupied West Bank, were released on Saturday after nearly 23 years in prison.
Hassan Aweis was sentenced to life in 2002 on charges of voluntary manslaughter, planting an explosive device and attempted murder. He was involved in planning attacks during the second intifada for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
Abdel Karim Aweis — sentenced to the equivalent of six life sentences for throwing an explosive device, attempted murder and assault, among other charges — was transferred to Egypt.
Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49
Abu Shakhdam was sentenced to the equivalent of 18 life sentences over his involvement in Hamas attacks that killed dozens of Israelis during the second intifada. They included a suicide bombing that blew up two buses in Beersheba in 2004, killing 16 Israelis, including a 4-year-old.
Abu Shakhdam was arrested in the West Bank in 2004 following a gunfight with Israeli security forces in which he was shot 10 times.
During 21 years in prison, his family said, he finished high school and earned a certificate for psychology courses. He was released on Feb. 8.
Jamal Al-Tawil, 61
Al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank, spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli prisons, in part over allegations that he helped plot suicide bombings.
Most recently, the Israeli military arrested Al-Tawil in 2021, saying he had participated in riots and mobilized Hamas political activists in Ramallah, the seat of the semiautonomous Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ main rival. He was held without charge or trial.
Too weak to walk, Al-Tawil was taken to a hospital after his release in Ramallah on Feb. 8.
Mohammed el-Halabi, 47
The Palestinian manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a Christian aid organization, was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to Hamas in a case that drew criticism from rights groups. He was freed on Feb. 1.
El-Halabi and World Vision denied the allegations and independent investigations found no proof of wrongdoing.
Zakaria Zubeidi, 49
A prominent militant leader in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade during the second intifada, Zubeidi later became a theater director in the Jenin refugee camp, where he promoted what he described as cultural resistance to Israel.
His jailbreak in 2021 — when he and five others used spoons to tunnel out of one of Israel’s most secure prisons and remained at large for days before being caught — thrilled Palestinians and stunned the Israeli security establishment.
In 2019, after Zubeidi had served years in prison for attacks in the early 2000s, Israel arrested him again, accusing him of being involved in shooting attacks that targeted buses of Israeli settlers but caused no injuries.
Zubeidi had been awaiting trial when he was sentenced to five years in prison for his jailbreak. He was released on Jan. 30 into the West Bank.
Mohammed Odeh, 52, Wael Qassim, 54, and Wissam Abbasi, 48
They hail from east Jerusalem and rose within the ranks of Hamas. Held responsible for deadly attacks during the second intifada, they were handed multiple life sentences in 2002.
They were accused of plotting a suicide bombing at a pool hall near Tel Aviv in 2002 that killed 15 people. Later that year, they were found to have orchestrated a bombing at Hebrew University that killed nine people, including five American students.
All were transferred to Egypt on Jan. 25.
Mohammad Al-Tous, 67
Al-Tous held the title of longest continuously held prisoner in Israel until his release on Jan. 25, Palestinian authorities said.
First arrested in 1985 while fighting Israeli forces along the Jordanian border, the Fatah party activist spent a total of 39 years behind bars. Originally from the West Bank, he was sent into exile.


WHO chief begs Israel to show ‘mercy’ in Gaza

WHO chief begs Israel to show ‘mercy’ in Gaza
Updated 16 sec ago
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WHO chief begs Israel to show ‘mercy’ in Gaza

WHO chief begs Israel to show ‘mercy’ in Gaza
  • Tedros said only a political solution could bring a meaningful peace.

GENEVA: Fighting back tears, the head of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged Israel to have “mercy” in the Gaza war and insisted peace would be in Israel’s own interests.
In an emotional intervention at the WHO annual assembly, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the war was hurting Israel and would not bring a lasting solution.
“I can feel how people in Gaza would feel at the moment. I can smell it. I can visualize it. I can hear even the sounds. And this is because of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),” said Tedros, 60, who has often recalled his own wartime upbringing in Ethiopia.
“You can imagine how people are suffering. It’s really wrong to weaponize food. It’s very wrong to weaponize medical supplies.”
The United Nations on Thursday began distributing around 90 truckloads of aid which are the first deliveries into Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.
Tedros said only a political solution could bring a meaningful peace.
“A call for peace is actually in the best interests of Israel itself. I feel that the war is hurting Israel itself and it will not bring a lasting solution,” he said.
“I ask if you can have mercy. It’s good for you and good for the Palestinians. It’s good for humanity.”

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that 2.1 million people in Gaza were “in imminent danger of death.”
“We need to end the starvation, we need to release all hostages and we need to resupply and bring the health system back online,” he said.
“As an ex-hostage, I can say that all hostages should be released. Their families are suffering. Their families are in pain,” he added.
The WHO said Gazans were suffering acute shortages of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and shelter.
Four major hospitals have had to suspend medical services in the past week, due to their proximity to hostilities or evacuation zones, and attacks.
Only 19 of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals remain operational, with staff working in “impossible conditions,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
“At least 94 percent of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed,” it said, while north Gaza “has been stripped of nearly all health care.”
It said that across the Palestinian territory, only 2,000 hospital beds remained available — a figure “grossly insufficient to meet the current needs.”
“The destruction is systematic. Hospitals are rehabilitated and resupplied, only to be exposed to hostilities or attacked again. This destructive cycle must end.”


Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general

Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general
Updated 23 May 2025
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Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general

Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday his pick for the next head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, defying the country’s attorney general and a significant segment of the public.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet,” a statement from the premier’s office said.
The decision is the latest development in a long-running controversy surrounding the role, which has seen mass protests against the incumbent chief’s dismissal, as well as against moves pushed by Netanyahu’s government to expand elected officials’ power to appoint judges.
The supreme court on Wednesday ruled the government’s decision to fire current domestic security chief Ronen Bar was “improper and unlawful.”
Netanyahu’s move to tap Zini to replace Bar directly defied Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had said that, given the court ruling, the premier “must refrain from any action related to the appointment of a new head of the Shin Bet.”
Netanyahu immediately responded in a rare press conference that his government would make an appointment despite Baharav-Miara’s stance.
Following Thursday’s announcement, the attorney general released a statement saying that the prime minister was acting “contrary to legal guidance.”
“There is serious concern that he acted while in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed,” the statement said.
Zini, the son of immigrants from France and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, has held “many” operational and command positions in the Israeli military, Thursday’s announcement said, including for some elite units and combat brigades.
The announcement comes after more than two months of political and legal wrangling over who should head the powerful agency.
In March, Netanyahu said that he was dismissing Bar due to “ongoing lack of trust.”


Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza

Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza
Updated 22 May 2025
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Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza

Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza

GAZA CITY: The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighborhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation.

The warning came hours after the UN said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory on March 2.

Under global pressure for an end to the blockade and the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a “temporary ceasefire” in Gaza, but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control.

In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was “operating with intense force” in 14 areas in the northern Gaza Strip, accusing “terrorist organizations” of operating there.

The army issued a similar warning for northern Gaza on Wednesday evening in what the army said was a response to rocket fire.

It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu said it was necessary to “avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action” in Gaza.

Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies, with Israel’s blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages.

Israel has meanwhile kept up its bombardment, with Gaza’s civil defense agency reporting at least 19 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday.

Umm Talal Al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable.”

“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she said.

“We barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”

UN agencies have said that the amount of aid entering Gaza falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis.

“I am tormented for my children,” said Hossam Abu Aida, another resident of the Gaza Strip.

“For them, I fear hunger and disease more than I do Israeli bombardment,” the 38-year-old added. The army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Israel has faced mounting pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza.

EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to review the bloc’s cooperation accord with Israel.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said the EU action “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing.”

Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.

There has been a global spike in anti-Semitic attacks since the Hamas attack in 2023, with a gunman shooting dead two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

Britain, France, Germany, the US, and other countries around the world all condemned the shooting.


British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’

British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’
Updated 22 May 2025
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British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’

British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’
  • ‘There’s no food getting in so people are starving,’ surgeon Tom Potokar says
  • World leaders urged to ‘stop talking and do something’

LONDON: British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a “slaughterhouse,” where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.

Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023, Sky News reported.

“What can you say, it’s horrific, it’s a slaughterhouse,” Potokar said after operating on a badly injured Palestinian woman whose husband and children were killed in an Israeli attack.

He urged world leaders to “stop talking and do something.”

 

 

Potokar moved to Amal hospital last week after the nearby European hospital where he had been working was hit by Israeli missiles and forced to close.

Gaza’s health care is in a state of collapse, with hospitals being repeatedly targeted by Israel since the war started in October 2023.

The relentless airstrikes and bombings have killed more than 53,000 people and hospitals are full of Palestinians with blast-related injuries.

A blockade of humanitarian aid since March has further strained hospitals, leaving doctors with limited supplies to treat the injured.

“The difference this time I think is the intensity,” Potokar said. “Back in October to December 2023 was the last time I was here, there was a lot of wounded and it was very intense as well.

“I think the difference this time is, because of the blockade there’s so little stuff getting in, there’s no food getting in so people are starving. There’s very little medical supplies coming in but also the other very noticeable thing is the massive extent of destruction. I mean, Khan Younis looks like Stalingrad.”

The report showed the chaos of the hospital’s emergency rooms, with badly injured children being brought in for initial treatment before being sent for surgery with the British medics.

Most of the injuries are blast wounds and the patients are malnourished.

In Nasser hospital, a baby arrived with chest and back burns, while another lay silent having suffered shrapnel wounds and was unable to see from one eye.

Dr. Victoria Rose, a British plastic surgeon working at the hospital, showed the inside of the burns unit, which was shut down after being hit by Israeli missiles.

Israel this week ordered residents to evacuate Khan Younis, leading to several of the hospital’s staff being unable to get to work, Rose said.

“My anesthetic nurse and Graeme’s orthopedic colleague had to leave us mid-case to go and evacuate their families to an area of safety,” she said.

Dr. Graeme Groom, a surgeon working alongside Rose, praised his Palestinian colleagues.

“These are people just like you and me, they have their homes, their families, they live normal lives. Many are very impressive people and without notice they have to pick up a grab bag and leave, look for food, look for water, look for shelter, but turn up at work each day,” he said.

The surgeons fear that the hospitals may have to be evacuated as Israel expands its military operation in the area as part of a plan to take complete control of the territory.


Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed

Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed
Updated 22 May 2025
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Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed

Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed
  • The Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant
  • The “urgent warning” was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter radius around it marked in red

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said an Israeli air strike hit a building in southern Lebanon on Thursday after Israel’s military issued an evacuation call warning of imminent action against Hezbollah militants.

Israel has kept up its air strikes in neighboring Lebanon despite a November truce aimed at halting more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah that included two months of full-blown war.

Without confirming the reported attack on the southern town of Toul, the Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said that “the Israeli enemy” struck a building in Toul, where the army had warned residents to evacuate the area around a building it said was used by Hezbollah militants.

The “urgent warning” was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter (0.3-mile) radius around it marked in red.

“You are located near facilities belonging to the terrorist (group) Hezbollah,” the statement said in Arabic, urging people “to evacuate these buildings immediately and move away from them.”

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Toul.

In a separate statement, the military said it had “struck and eliminated a Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorist in the area of Rab El Thalathine,” about 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southeast.

The NNA reported a “martyr” in an air strike in the same area, without identifying them.

The Israeli military said its forces also “struck a Hezbollah military site containing rocket launchers and weapons” in the Bekaa Valley as well as “terrorist infrastructure sites and rocket launchers belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization... in southern Lebanon.”

A military statement said that “the presence of weapons in the area and Hezbollah activities at the site constitute blatant violations of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” under the November ceasefire agreement.

Israel will “continue to operate to remove any threat... and will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to re-establish its terror capabilities,” it said.

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle military infrastructure south of it.

Israel was to withdraw all forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic.”

The Lebanese army has deployed in the south and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.

The truce was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only people to bear arms in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.