Israel released 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday in the latest exchange for Israeli hostages captured by Hamas, as the fragile ceasefire held after a standoff over aid deliveries.
Israel views the prisoners being released as terrorists. Palestinians often see them as freedom fighters resisting a decadeslong 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, protesting or membership in a banned political group. Some are incarcerated for months or years without trial in what is known as administrative detention, which Israel says is needed to prevent attacks and avoid sharing sensitive intelligence.
Among those released on Saturday, 36 had been sentenced to life for their involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. Only 12 of them have been allowed to return to their homes in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, where their families and supporters mobbed the Red Cross minibus, chanting “God is greatest” and cheering. Palestinian medics said four were taken straight to the hospital for urgent care.
As part of the deal, the 24 others with life sentences will be sent to exile.
The Palestinian prisoners released into the West Bank and east Jerusalem on Saturday were wearing white sweatshirts given to them by the Israeli Prison Service upon their release, emblazoned with a Star of David, the Prison Service logo and the phrase “Never forgive, never forget” written in Arabic on the front and back.
The rest of the 333 Palestinians released Saturday had been detained from the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the enclave. In Gaza, Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of people and held them without trial.
As part of the agreement, Israel committed to releasing over 1,000 of those detained from Gaza on the condition that they had not participated in the Oct. 7 attack.
A look at some prominent Palestinian prisoners released since the truce went into effect on Jan. 19:
Ahmed Barghouti, 48
Among the most prominent Palestinian prisoners released Saturday is a close aide of militant leader and iconic political figure Marwan Barghouti. The last name is common among Palestinians and the two are not closely related.
Ahmed Barghouti was given a life sentence for dispatching assailants and suicide bombers 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 President Mahmoud Abbas’ secular Fatah Party, he was also convicted of possession of firearms and attempted murder, according to the Israeli Justice Ministry.
He was sent to Egypt.
Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah leader, was also given multiple life sentences over attacks in the early 2000s. Polls consistently show that he is the most popular Palestinian leader, with some comparing him to Nelson Mandela. He is not slated for release in the first phase of the ceasefire.
The Sarahneh brothers
Three brothers, originally from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, were released after more than 22 years in prison for their involvement in suicide bombings that killed a number of Israelis during the second intifada. Israeli authorities brought two of them — Ibrahim, 55, and Musa, 63 — to their homes in the Dheisheh refugee camp near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Ibrahim Sarhneh's Ukrainian wife, Irena, had also been sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for working with her husband to organize a suicide bombing that killed two people in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, but was released in 2011 with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in a swap for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
The third brother, Khalil, 45, who was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life in 2002, was sent to Egypt.
The Aweis brothers
Hassan Aweis, 47, and Abdel Karim Aweis, 54, from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank, were released on Saturday after nearly 23 years in prison.
Hassan Aweis — sentenced to life in 2002 on charges of voluntary manslaughter, planting and explosive device and attempted murder, according to Israel's Justice Ministry — was among the few released prisoners welcomed by joyous crowds in Ramallah. 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, according to Israel’s Justice Ministry — was transferred to Egypt for deportation.
An intelligence officer with the Palestinian Authority police, Aweis has recalled turning to violence as the 1993 Oslo Accords that launched the Israeli-Palestinian peace process unraveled. He became a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, organizing shooting attacks on Israeli settlers driving West Bank roads and later dispatching suicide bombing missions within Israel.
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.
Among the most infamous of those attacks was a suicide bombing that blew up two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba in 2004, killing 16 Israelis, including a 4-year-old.
Abu Shakhdam was arrested from his hometown of Hebron in the southern West Bank in November 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 courses in psychology.
He was released on Feb. 8, hoisted up onto the shoulders of dozens of cheering supporters.
“From the moment I entered prison, I was sure, one day, I’d go home,” he told The Associated Press.
Jamal al-Tawil, 61
Al-Tawil, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank, has 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 that he had participated in violent riots and mobilized Hamas political activists in Ramallah, the seat of the semiautonomous Palestinian Authority and Hamas’ main rival.
He had been held without charge or trial since then.
During one of al-Tawil’s stints in Israeli prison in the early 2000s, he ran a successful electoral campaign from custody to become mayor of Al-Bireh, a West Bank town abutting Ramallah.
Too weak to walk, al-Tawil had to be lifted off the bus of prisoners and taken immediately to a hospital for treatment after his release in Ramallah on Feb. 8.
Mohammed el-Halabi, 47
The Palestinian manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a major Christian aid organization, was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to Hamas in a high-profile case that drew criticism from rights groups. He was freed on Feb. 1. He returned to Gaza to find his family house destroyed during the war.
Both el-Halabi and World Vision vigorously denied the allegations and independent investigations found no proof of wrongdoing. One independent audit found that el-Halabi had enforced internal controls and ordered employees to avoid anyone suspected of Hamas ties.
Rights groups say el-Halabi was denied a fair and transparent trial, as he and World Vision had no chance to review the evidence against them. U.N. experts say el-Halabi was questioned for 50 days without access to a lawyer. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Israel has attributed the closed hearings to sensitive security information being discussed.
Zakaria Zubeidi, 49
A prominent former 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 dramatic jailbreak in 2021 — when he and five other detainees used spoons to tunnel out one of Israel’s most secure prisons and remained at large for days before being caught — thrilled Palestinians and stunned the Israeli security establishment, reinforcing his status as a Palestinian folk hero.
In 2019, after Zubeidi had already 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. Last year, Israeli forces killed his son in a drone strike during a military operation in Jenin camp.
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 Aradeh, 42, an Islamic Jihad militant who was serving a life sentence, was widely credited with organizing the prison break. He was reelased on Jan. 25. Supporters chanted “The freedom tunnel!” as they welcomed him home.
Mohammed Odeh, 52, Wael Qassim, 54, and Wissam Abbasi, 48
All three men hail from the neighborhood of Silwan, in east Jerusalem, and rose within the ranks of Hamas. Held responsible for a string of deadly attacks during the second intifada, the men were handed multiple life sentences in 2002.
They were accused of plotting a suicide bombing at a crowded 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. Israel had described Odeh, who was working as a painter at the university at the time, as the architect of the attack.
All three were transferred to Egypt on Jan. 25.
Mohammad al-Tous, 67
Al-Tous had 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 activist in the Fatah party spent a total of 39 years behind bars. Originally from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, he was among the prisoners sent into exile.
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