ALBAWABA - The Israeli Ministry of Justice announced on Saturday that Tel Aviv will be releasing 735 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of the first batch of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
It confirmed that the release of the Palestinian prisoners is part of the first phase of the prisoner exchange and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip agreed on Jan. 15.
Several Israeli media outlets circulated the names of a number of prominent Palestinian prisoners, sentenced to life, who are expected to be released in the first phase of the agreement, and they are from all factions.
Ahmad Barghuthi
Ahmed Barghouti, nicknamed "the Frenchman," hails from the town of Deir Ghassaneh, northwest of Ramallah, and was born in 1976. He led the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah in the Ramallah area. He was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 13 life sentences for planning and carrying out dozens of armed operations that killed 12 Israelis and wounded dozens.
Ahmad Barghouti is described as the right-hand man of imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti.
Ashraf Zaghir
Prisoner Ashraf Zaghir was arrested in October 2002. He is accused of helping the perpetrator of the attack on Line 4 on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv in September 2002, in which 6 Israelis were killed and 84 were injured. An Israeli court sentenced him to 6 life sentences.
During his detention, he held several positions within the leadership framework of the Hamas movement in prisons, and he obtained a bachelor's degree from the Hebrew Open University.
Iyad Jaradat
Iyad Ibrahim Hassan Jaradat belongs to the Islamic Jihad Movement and is one of the prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison in 2021.
Jaradat's role emerged during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in confrontations with the occupation. He was arrested for the first time during the invasion of Jenin camp in 2002, then released after 18 days.
In 2003, he joined the Al-Quds Brigades and became wanted by the occupation after being accused of transporting two suicide bombers from Qabatiya in Jenin to Afula inside Israel in January 2003, where their operation led to the death of an Israeli soldier and the injury of several others.
Jaradat was arrested on May 11, 2003, in Jabal Abu Dhahir in Jenin after being surrounded by others. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and 50 additional years, on charges of belonging to and membership in the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, and participating in resistance activities against the occupation forces.
A man holds a phone showing a picture of Mohammad al-Halabi, Palestinian aid worker and Gaza operations manager for ecumenical Christian humanitarian aid organisation World Vision International -- who was arrested at the Erez border crossing with Israel in 2016. (AFP)
Bilal Ghanem
Prisoner Bilal Ghanem from the city of Jerusalem is accused of supporting the Hamas movement and participating with the martyr Baha Alian in a shooting operation inside an Israeli bus in the “Armon Hanatziv” area near Jabal Mukaber in East Jerusalem on October 13, 2015. This operation led to the killing of 3 Israelis and the injury of 15.
Bilal was sentenced to three life sentences and 60 years in prison, with compensation of 1.45 million for those killed and injured in the operation.
Ashraf Abu Srour
Palestinian prisoner Ashraf Issa Jadallah Abu Srour, is from Aida camp in Bethlehem, and has been detained since November 25, 2001, after years of pursuit.
Srour was sentenced to life imprisonment, on charges of killing an Israeli soldier at Rachel's Tomb north of Bethlehem in 2002, and belonging to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement, and participating in carrying out operations against the occupation.
Mohammed Khrioush
Prisoner Mohammed Khrioush, was born in Tulkarm, northern West Bank, and belongs to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
He was arrested on September 15, 2009, after years of pursuit during a special military operation that targeted a house where he was secretly residing in the town of Surif, northwest of the city of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.
Khrrioush was accused, along with others, most notably the leader Abbas al-Sayyed, of being responsible for planning the Park Hotel attack in Netanya on the eve of Passover in 2002, which left 30 Israelis dead.
