Hamas demands Barghouti’s release for return of soldiers’ remains

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Wednesday reportedly demanded the release of Palestinians Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat in exchange for the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in last summer’s war in the Gaza Strip.

Barghouti, accused of being the mastermind behind the Second Intifada, is serving five life sentences after an Israeli court found him guilty in 2004 on multiple murder counts for his involvement in terrorist attacks on Israelis. Saadat was arrested and imprisoned for his involvement in the 2001 assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Zeevi.

Hamas also demands the release of Palestinian prisoners who were freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap and subsequently arrested by Israel as part of a swap for the return of the remains of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and 1st Lt. Hadar Goldin, according to Israel’s Channel 2 news.

The Gaza-based terror group also holds two Israeli citizens — an Ethiopian-Israeli and a Bedouin — but their conditions remain unknown.

There was no immediate Israeli response to Mashaal’s comments.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, meanwhile, addressed calls by the families of Shaul and Goldin for Israel to hold the bodies of Palestinian terrorists killed by the IDF in recent attacks until Hamas returns their sons’ bodies to Israel.

In the face of opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Ya’alon has maintained Israel’s policy of returning the remains, with the caveat that families of attackers forgo a large, public funeral.

“Keeping the corpses of terrorists in and of itself isn’t a deterrent to potential terrorists, unlike the demolition of houses or stripping residency, which we have proof that they’re deterrent steps,” Ya’alon said.

Further, he said that there’s no connection between the Palestinians killed in Jerusalem and the bodies of Shaul and Goldin, who were killed in Gaza.