Hamas presses Israel to free prominent prisoners as part of Gaza deal
Hamas is pressuring Israel to include prominent Palestinians on a list of prisoner releases that are part of the ceasefire agreement that would also include hostages repatriated from Gaza.
Hamas’ insistence came after the Israeli justice ministry published the names of 250 prisoners to be released, but not the names of seven key prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat.
The men, who are serving sentences after being convicted of participating in separate deadly attacks in Israel, have long been seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance.
The 20 Israeli hostages are expected to be released before 12:00 am (09:00 GMT) on Monday under the deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.
A senior Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC that US envoy Steve Witkoff, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had promised to increase the exclusion of Palestinian detainees, but Israel had flatly refused to include them in the talks.
It is unclear whether this will be a sticking point or affect the timeline for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
The releases would come in the first phase of Trump’s ceasefire and hostage return agreement approved this week to end the two-year war in Gaza.
It is unclear how the hostages will be released this time; Hamas had previously publicly displayed them, infuriating Israel and many of its Western allies.
The bodies of the dead hostages will also be returned. It is thought that at least 26 hostages died and the fate of the other two is unknown.
Israel will also release approximately 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons and 1,700 Palestinians detained in Gaza.
Hamas presented a list of prisoners it wanted to be released, including Barghouti and Saadat.
Barghouti was convicted of planning attacks that killed five civilians in 2004 and was sentenced to five life terms plus 40 years in prison.
Opinion polls consistently show that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader and that Palestinians will vote for him before current Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders in presidential elections.
Barghouti remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank that are not under Israeli control.
Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was convicted in 2008 of leading an “illegal terrorist organization” and participating in attacks, including the assassination of an Israeli minister in 2001, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Among the 250 prisoners scheduled to be released is Islamic Jihad commander Iyad Abu al-Rub, who was convicted of organizing suicide attacks that killed 13 people in Israel in the early 2000s.
According to the Israeli justice ministry, he will either be released to Gaza or deported abroad.
The BBC understands that Hamas is also pressing for the release of some potential detainees. These concern Palestinian prisoners who were released years ago as part of an exchange with hostage Gilad Shalit and were re-arrested after October 7.
Hamas argues that they should not be included in the 250 figure because they were part of an earlier hostage exchange.
The ceasefire in the first phase of the Israel-Hamas agreement came into force on Friday and Israeli forces have partially withdrawn from parts of Gaza. Hundreds of aid trucks are now expected to enter daily. Negotiations for the next stages are ongoing.
Israel’s Gaza war was triggered by attacks led by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.
The Hamas-run health ministry announced that 67,682 Palestinians have been killed since that date in Israel’s military attack on Gaza.
