Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas: live updates
Under the deal, Israel is set to exchange three Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 90 of which will release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first 42 days of the ceasefire.
Israelis say most of the prisoners are terrorists and murderers. Many Palestinians see the arrested militants as freedom fighters against Israeli rule, while others argue that they were imprisoned by an unfair Israeli military justice system.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, here are some of the high-profile Palestinian prisoners who were released during the war’s ceasefire.
Zakaria Zubeidi
For the past two decades, 49-year-old Zakaria Zubeidi has been a militant, theater director and prisoner whose flight has stunned Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Mr. Zubeidi rose to prominence as a militant leader during the second intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s, when Palestinian militants carried out deadly attacks on Israelis, including bombings targeting civilian highways.
Israel responded by recapturing major Palestinian cities in street clashes. Some of the heaviest fighting took place in the Palestinian city of Jenin, Mr. Zubeidi’s hometown. He later emerged as a senior commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed militia from the secular Fatah party, the main Palestinian political faction in the West Bank.
After the uprising, Mr. Zubeidi in A The theater in the hardscrabble Jenin refugee camp. In the year In 2019, Israel arrested him again on charges of returning to militancy.
Two years later, Mr. Zubeidi and five other Palestinian prisoners staged a prison break, crawling nearly 32 meters through an underground tunnel outside Israel’s maximum security prison. Although they were later recaptured, the security breach shocked the Israelis and delighted the Palestinians.
Israeli drones killed Mr Zubeidi’s son Mohammed in September. The Israeli army said the boy was a “terrorist” who fired at Israeli soldiers.
They are Wissam Abbasi, Mohammed Odeh and Wael Qasim.
Wisam Abbasi, 48, Mohammed Odeh, 52, and Wael Qasim, 54, were arrested in 2002 by Hamas on charges of attacking Israelis. According to Israel’s Ministry of Justice, the three men were sentenced to life in prison for murder and a series of other crimes.
According to contemporary Israeli media reports, the men were among several people convicted Participating in the Jerusalem branch of Hamas He was responsible for a series of bombings in crowded civilian areas that killed more than 30 Israelis.
The attacks include the Hamas bombing of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem that killed him. Nine peopleIsraeli officials said, including four American citizens.
Mr. Odeh, who worked as a painter at the university, planted the bomb in the cafeteria and reported it to the newspaper, The New York Times reported at the time, citing Israeli officials. As he left, he detonated the explosives remotely with a cellphone, officials said.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the men will not be allowed to return to Jerusalem, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice. It is not known where they will be allowed to go, but they are forced to live in exile.
Khaleda Jarrara
One of the prominent Palestinian prisoners expected to be released on Sunday is 62-year-old Khalid Jarrara, a prominent leader of the left-wing Palestinian Liberation Front.
In the year In the 2006 elections, Ms. Jarara, a well-known advocate for the rights of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, was elected as a member of the Palestinian Parliament.
The United States and the European Union consider the Popular Front a terrorist organization. The group gained notoriety for a series of hijackings in the late 1960s, as well as other attacks during the Second Intifada.
Her husband, Ghassan Jarrar, said in a telephone interview that since her arrest in December 2023, Israeli authorities have not allowed him to visit his wife. Her lawyer has caught any news of her health during his rare visits. he said.
Ms. Jarrar has spent the past decade in and out of Israeli prisons, although she has not been convicted of direct involvement in the Popular Front’s military activities. In the year In 2015, he was sentenced to 15 months for inciting and being a member of a banned organization.
In recent years, Israel has detained Ms Jarrara without formal charges. Human rights groups say the act violates due process, while Israel says it is sometimes necessary to protect sensitive information.
In the year In 2021, while Ms. Jarara was in an Israeli prison, her daughter Suha died. Israel has turned down requests for humanitarian aid to attend the funeral.