Israel to free up to 1,904 Palestinians in 1st stage of hostage deal, including killers
Figures comprises 737 jailed Palestinians, 1,167 Gazans detained in ground op; notorious terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, others responsible for the murder of dozens, to be freed.
The government approved the hostage and ceasefire deal after an eight-hour full cabinet meeting.
Among the Palestinians to go free are 737 jailed detainees and security prisoners, some of whom are serving life sentences for murder.
They include members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, along with women and children being held in Israeli jails. Some prisoners were released in 2011 in return for captive soldier Gilad Shalit later and re-arrested.
The Justice Ministry had, as of Saturday morning, published the names of 735 Palestinian prisoners to allow petitions against their release to be submitted to the High Court.
Israel will also be releasing 1,167 Palestinians detained in the Gaza Strip during the IDF’s ground offensive, who did not participate in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel.
The numbers could fluctuate depending on how many of the 33 hostages are alive. Hamas has not yet provided the information, although Israel believes that most of them are.
On Sunday, the first three female hostages from the 33 humanitarian cases — a category made up of women, children, elderly individuals, and the infirm — are set to be released.
The other 30 hostages on the list are to be released each Saturday until the end of the deal’s 42-day first phase — four on January 25, and then three each week until a final group of 14.
The hostages will be released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners detailed in the terms of the deal.
For each of the living women, children and elderly, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released; for all nine sick hostages, 110 prisoners will be released; for each of the female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners will be released; for hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza for a decade, 30 prisoners will be released for each, in addition to 47 Palestinians released in the 2011 Shalit deal and re-arrested; and for the bodies of hostages in the first stage, Israel will release the 1,000+ Gazan detainees.
Beyond the 33 on the list, 65 more people are held by Hamas, many of them no longer alive. These are to be returned as part of a second phase of a deal, if it comes to pass, that would also see a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
