Palestinian jailbreakers and life prisoners to be freed in Hamas-Israel swap

Since the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, speculation has been rife regarding which Palestinian prisoners will be released and how many will be included in the deal. The agreement, set to take effect on Sunday morning, will see 33 Israelis released from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons.

However, with the official text of the agreement not yet public, the exact number of Palestinians to be released remains unclear. The final number will also depend on how many of the 33 Israelis are still alive. Reports suggest that at least 25 are still alive. Additionally, the number of Palestinians released will vary based on the identities of those being exchanged, as female soldiers will be exchanged for a different number of Palestinian prisoners than civilian captives.

According to Israeli media reports, as many as 1,900 Palestinians could be released in the first phase of the agreement. According to Palestinian and Israeli estimates, Israel holds over 13,000 Palestinians, including those detained during the recent invasion of Gaza. Of the 1,900 expected to be released in the first phase, around 1,167 are civilians detained from Gaza who will be exchanged for some of the remains of Israeli captives. The Israeli Ministry of Justice published a list of the remaining 734 prisoners on Saturday.

The list includes 230 prisoners serving life sentences, some of whom are well-known figures detained since the 1990s. Some of these prisoners have been incarcerated since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and have spent decades in Israeli detention. The list also includes prisoners from various Palestinian factions, as well as detainees from the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s prisoner information office stated that 296 prisoners serving life sentences would be released in the first phase, with the largest number belonging to the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, more widely known as Fatah. Around 600 Palestinians are serving life sentences in Israeli prisons.

The office further clarified that the list published by the Israeli Ministry of Justice could change based on the number of Israeli soldiers Hamas may release. It urged caution in dealing with the Israeli list and advised relying on the official list released by the organization. Among the prisoners listed by the Israeli Ministry of Justice are Amar Zaben from Jenin and Abdel Nasser Issa from Nablus, both serving multiple life sentences, and Salim Hijja from Qalqilya, who is serving 16 life sentences. The list also includes three prisoners who participated in the 2021 Gilboa Prison break, including the well-known figure Zakaria Zubeidi from the Jenin refugee camp.

Zubeidi, born in 1976, is known for his leadership of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and his escape in September 2021 with five other prisoners. This escape garnered international attention and became a symbol of resistance for many Palestinians. Additionally, some of the prisoners who were released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and rearrested by Israel in 2014 will also be released. One of the most prominent prisoners is 67-year-old Nael Barghouti from Kobar near Ramallah, considered the longest-serving Palestinian political prisoner.

Barghouti was arrested in 1978 at the age of 20 and was released in 2011 as part of the Shalit deal after serving 34 years. He was rearrested in 2014 and had his original life sentence reinstated in 2015. The first phase of the exchange will also include the release of women and children, although it is unclear if all minors under the age of 18 will be included. One prominent female prisoner is 63-year-old Khalida Jarrar, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Jarrar has been under administrative detention since December 2023 and suffers from multiple illnesses. She has been arrested numerous times and was denied attendance at her daughter Suha’s funeral in 2021.

The ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was announced on Wednesday. In the initial 42-day phase, hostilities will cease, Israeli forces will withdraw from parts of Gaza, aid will flow into the war-torn area, and prisoners will be exchanged. Details for the second and third phases will be negotiated. But in principle, they will include a permanent cessation of hostilities, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction efforts, and the exchange of the remaining 65 Israelis for Palestinian prisoners.