Notorious Fatah terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi to be freed in first phase of hostage-ceasefire deal

18 January 2025, 4:11 am

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Zakaria Zubeidi, then-leader in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in the West Bank, is carried by supporters during a presidential elections campaign rally in support of Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank town of Jenin, on December 30, 2004. (Nasser Nasser/AP)

Notorious Fatah terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, who was part of a prison break from a high-security detention facility in northern Israel in 2021 before he and the other escapees were again apprehended, is included on the Justice Ministry’s list of Palestinian security prisoners that Israel is slated to release in the first stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The list in Hebrew published online states that Zubeidi will not be sent abroad, allowing him to return home to the northern West Bank city of Jenin, where he was the commander of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The IDF last year killed his son Mohammed alongside several other gunmen in a drone strike, describing the younger Zubeidi as “prominent terrorist from the Jenin area,” which has been a hotbed of terror activity over the past year.