Over 600 Palestinian prisoners, including terrorists, freed as Hamas returns 4 slain hostages
More than 100 murderers and life-termers released, most of them deported via Egypt; 445 post-Oct. 7 detainees returned to Gaza; dozens of detainees released to West Bank, Jerusalem
Israel began releasing Palestinian security prisoners on Wednesday night as Hamas handed over the remains of what is said were four slain hostages, marking the final swap of the ceasefire deal’s first phase.
By early morning, over 600 Palestinians had been released, including over 100 murderers and life-termers, and 445 Gazans detained since October 7. Among those freed, and deported via Egypt, were numerous senior Hamas terrorists.
The prisoners went free after a days-long delay, following Israel’s announcement that it would postpone their release until Hamas guaranteed an end to the staged propaganda ceremonies accompanying the release of hostages.
Unlike previous exchanges that saw prisoners freed only after hostages reached Israeli soil, buses began transporting the detainees at around 1 a.m., shortly after the four bodies were transferred in Gaza to the Red Cross.
Soon after 37 prisoners reached Ramallah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Red Cross had transferred the bodies of the four Israelis to the IDF, which brought them to the Kerem Shalom Crossing for initial forensic testing.
Another five prisoners from East Jerusalem were escorted by Israeli police from the Russian Compound detention center to their homes in the city.
Upon exiting a bus in Ramallah, dozens of former inmates from the West Bank, dressed in keffiyehs and jackets to conceal their prison uniforms, were carried by masses of celebrants cheering and flashing the victory sign.
המסר שהוקרן על אחד הבניינים שמשקיפים על כלא עופר: "העיניים שלנו צופות בכם" | תיעוד@OmerShahar123
צילום: מתוך שידור חי של AP pic.twitter.com/JxpK1ZmjEd— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 26, 2025
Ahead of the swap, Israeli security forces in the West Bank attempted to suppress celebrations surrounding the release near Ofer Prison, where 151 security prisoners were expected to go free.
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported that security forces projected a message reading “Our eyes are on you” onto one of the buildings overlooking the prison. Army vehicles accompanied by a bulldozer were also stationed on the perimeter of the facility.
A few hours after the ex-detainees reached the West Bank and Jerusalem, over 400 prisoners, the vast majority detained post-October 7, began to trickle into the Gaza Strip. Several prisoners were taken to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis upon their arrival in the enclave, according to Reuters.
The Hamas prisoners’ media office also listed 21 minors and one woman slated for release to Gaza.
In addition to the detainees, Reuters reported that Israel sent the body of the unidentified Gazan woman that Hamas handed over in place of slain hostage Shiri Bibas to a hospital in the Gaza Strip, following the return of Bibas’s remains over the weekend.
Another 97 prisoners — most of whom were serving life sentences for terror attacks in which Israeli civilians were killed — were deported to Egypt. They may then be transferred to other countries.
Ammar Zaban was one of the most prominent terrorists released. In the late 1990s, he played a key planning role in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
After his 1998 arrest, Zaban was handed 27 life sentences for plotting attacks that claimed the lives of 27 Israelis. He is originally from Nablus and was deported abroad.
Also listed for deportation was 67-year-old Nael Barghouti, a Hamas-affiliated terror convict and the longest-serving Palestinian inmate in an Israeli prison.
Barghouti, who has spent a total of 44 years in Israeli custody, was jailed in 1978 for killing 27-year-old Israeli bus driver Mordechai Yekuel in his vehicle near Ramallah. After 33 years in prison, Barghouti was freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, but was arrested three years later and convicted on terrorism charges.
His face has said that he would agree to be released if he were to be deported and it was not immediately clear whether he had been released.
Abdel Nasser Issa, a founding member of the West Bank branch of the al-Qassam Brigades, was also deported Thursday morning. Issa was a protege of Yahya Ayyash, Hamas’s explosives engineer and the notorious architect of the terror group’s suicide bombing strategy in the 1990s.
Originally from the Balata refugee camp, Issa spent over 32 years in Israeli prisons, including 29 consecutive years, and was serving two life sentences plus an additional seven years.
Jerusalemite Alaa al-Din al-Bazyan was previously released in 2011 and was also listed as a deportee.
He has served a total of 42 years in prison for multiple terror attacks and was involved in the 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel.
In this particular swap, most prisoners sentenced to life were sent abroad. However, a handful with life sentences returned to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Hamza al-Kaluti, a Hamas operative who was serving a life sentence for planning suicide bombings in the 1990s, returned to his home in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem after 24 years behind bars.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.