Latest news with #Shalit
Roya News
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
Release of Palestinian detainees begins after prolonged "Israeli" delay
After a prolonged delay, the release of 620 Palestinian detainees from "Israeli" prisons has begun, following a deal brokered by mediators. Hamas announced the agreement, which includes the release of an equal number of Palestinian women and children detained in Gaza since the aggression erupted. Since the beginning of the ceasefire deal, around 1,135 Palestinian detainees have been freed from "Israeli" custody. The ongoing exchange is expected to be the largest yet, with the release of approximately 602 detainees. According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office, the latest release includes a diverse group: 50 individuals serving life sentences, 60 detainees with long sentences, 47 prisoners re-arrested after the 2011 Shalit deal, and 445 detainees from Gaza who were detained following the events of October 7.
Al-Ahram Weekly
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Who are the two decade-long Israeli captives set to be released in 7th Israel-Hamas prisoner swap? - War on Gaza
Hamas will release Israelis Avraham 'Avera' Mengistu, 38, and Hisham Al-Sayed, 37, captured in the Gaza Strip a decade ago, in the last prisoner swap under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group on Saturday. In exchange for the decade-long captives, Israel will release 46 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences. These prisoners, who were previously freed in the Shalit deal but later rearrested, will be deported abroad as part of the agreement. It will also release 444 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza arrested after 7 October, along with 48 serving life sentences — some facing deportation — and 60 others with long sentences, in exchange for the four other living captives. Hamas fighters captured the two men on two separate instances in the Gaza Strip after they crossed into the territory on their own in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Ahram Online looks at the stories of Avera and Hisham, both of whom suffer from mental illness, as they present a unique case. Who are Avraham "Avera" Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed? Avera was born in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 1987. He lived in Ashkelon (Asqalan), a coastal city only 13 kilometres away from Gaza. Mengistu crossed into northern Gaza from the beach at Zikim on 7 September 2014, where Hamas fighters captured him. However, Tel Aviv tried to cover up his disappearance, and it was not until July 2015 that an Israeli judge agreed to lift a gag order on the case, which made it public. As information about the case leaked, the Israeli public grew more outraged. 'On 7 September 2014, Israeli citizen Avraham Mengistu intentionally crossed the border fence into the Gaza Strip, and according to reliable intelligence information, he is being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip,' read a subsequent Israeli defense ministry statement. According to Israeli media reports, Mengistu's family was upset with the government's reaction, explaining that greater efforts would have been exerted to recover him had he been white, as was the case with Gilad Shalit in 2011. Mengistu's family also stated that their son had a mental illness, which remains unspecified. Documents from the Israeli Health Ministry, as reviewed by Human Rights Watch (HRW), reveal that Mengistu was hospitalized in a psychiatric facility for 19 days in January 2013. He spent 12 days at Beersheva Hospital voluntarily and seven days involuntarily. Israeli government allegedly redacted his diagnosis from the official documents released to the family. Tila Fenta, a relative who has led a campaign to get Avraham released, told the BBC in October 2023, days after 7 October, that the family feels let down by the Israeli state - though she says the international spotlight on Israelis captured by Hamas, now might help her cause. "I think Avera is a man who society doesn't like so much because of his colour, mental illness problem and having grown up in a poor area of Ashkelon, she said. "I think all this made him not wanted in society. If he was a bit brighter or from a good area, the treatment would be different. I know this isn't the time to say something wrong about my country, but the truth must be told." She said big human rights organizations should also have done more. "The same goes for the Bedouin - both are disadvantaged. Hisham Al-Sayed is a Bedouin Arab Israeli, a 1948 Palestinian. Born in 1988, he lived in the Negev [Naqab] desert's Al-Sayed village and is the oldest of eight siblings. Hamas fighters captured him on 20 April 2015, when he crossed into the Strip via a breach in the security fence. In statements to Israeli media, Al-Sayed's family said that he suffers from poor health and mental illness. Medical documents published by Israel claim that al-Sayed has suffered from hearing loss since 2007. Other medical documents published by HRW in 2017 indicate that he has been suffering from 'a personality disorder and unspecified behavioural and emotional disturbances' since 2009. The HRW report also states that Al-Sayed was diagnosed with 'severe mental illness' in 2010, while his final diagnosis in 2013 showed that he was suffering from 'schizophrenia.' It's worth noting that the families of Israeli captives have been persistently advocating for their repatriation. In Israeli media interviews, the families argued that the recovery of their captive members should have been the primary goal of the 'conflict.' However, Netanyahu's government prioritized 'wiping out Hamas' by carrying out a 15-month genocidal war, one of the bloodiest in recent history. The Israeli occupation forces killed at least 46,788 Palestinians, 17,881 of which were children, and injured 110,453 since 7 October. At least 1.9 million people - 90 percent of the Gazan population - were also displaced, per a United Nations (UN) report. On Thursday, Hamas released the remains of four Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as stipulated in the Gaza truce, stating that it worked to preserve their lives, but Israel's war on the strip killed them and their guards. Civilians or soldiers? The military status of both Israelis has been subject to debate since their capture. Question marks have been persistently following both captives, with Hamas believing them to be soldiers, while Tel Aviv claims they are not. Israeli authorities stated that Al-Sayed was not a soldier in the army. He volunteered for military service on 18 August 2008 but was discharged on 6 November of the same year, as he was found 'unfit for service' due to 'health and psychological reasons.' Hamas' first mention of either man was in April 2016, when Al-Qassam Brigades announced via pre-recorded video they had captured four Israeli soldiers; two of them - Shaul Aron and Hadar Goldin - whose bodies were detained during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014, and the other two are Mengistu and Al-Sayed. The video included photos of Mengistu and Al-Sayed in Israeli military uniforms. In a meeting with HRW in September 2016, Palestinian politician and Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar 'refused to acknowledge the detention of Mengistu and Al-Sayed.' HRW also stated that al-Zahar told them that 'there are no civilians in Israel' since all serve in the army and that 'Israelis who enter Gaza are spies.' Mengistu's brother, Ilan, told Israeli media that his brother had previously gone missing on two or three occasions, all to northern Israel. On the other hand, Al-Sayed has a much more extensive disappearance track record, with his father, Sha'ban Al-Sayed, revealing he disappeared to the occupied West Bank at least 15 times and walked to Jordan once. Various reports claim he also crossed into Egypt previously. Additionally, Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported on an incident in February 2010 of a man who fits al-Sayed's profile crossing into Gaza. Within the same week, sources told Nazareth-based Palestinian news platform Bokra that the trespasser was Hisham Al-Sayed. '[Hisham] is not a soldier. He has been ill since his teenage years. He loves to walk for hours and hours and he is very social. He likes the attention when he goes places he knows are forbidden. People usually realize quite quickly that he is ill and help him get home,' Sha'ban told the Observer in a 2024 interview. 'He went to Gaza too, and the Bedouin we know there helped return him within 24 hours. But the Hamas leadership changed in 2014, and his luck ran out.' Captive/Prisoner treatment: A study in ethics Hamas released a 39-second video of Al-Sayed looking sickly in bed, wearing an oxygen mask, on 28 June 2022. The Palestinian resistance group asked Israel for a deal to release their ill, possibly dying, captive. A TV tuned to Al Jazeera in the background proved the video was recent. While Tel Aviv renewed efforts to recover al-Sayed, they did not reach an exchange deal with Hamas before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Despite his illness, Hamas managed to keep Al-Sayed alive. For a decade, they have been providing food and medical services. Hamas' humane treatment of its captives also extended to Mengistu, whose last appearance was in an undated video released by Hamas in January 2023, nearly a year before 7 October. In the video, Mengistu looks well. 'I am the captive Avera Mengistu. Until when will I be here in captivity, me and my friends,' he says. 'After many years of the pain. Where are the country and the people of Israel from our destiny?' During Israel's 15-month genocidal war on Gaza, there has been 'no mention' of the Palestinians that Israel has detained since October 2023, which include 18,000 to 20,000 forcibly disappeared, per Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) estimates. In June 2024, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir called for a bill to enable the mass execution of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. A report on the pattern of administrative detention from 2001 to 2024 by the Israeli B'tsleem rights group shows a sharp and unprecedented surge since 2021 in the number of Palestinians arrested by the Israeli authorities over the past three years and since the current extreme right government came to power in 2022. 'Testimonies clearly indicate a system, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,' reads a B'tsleem report titled Welcome to Hell. 'Frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation, prohibition on, and punitive measure for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment - these descriptions appear time and again in the testimonies, in horrifying detail and with chilling similarities.' The report was published mere days ahead of the Sde Teiman detention facility gang-rape case coming to light. A group of Israeli occupation forces gang-raped a Gazan prisoner in a video leaked from the prison and aired on Israeli Channel 12 in August 2024. In a poll published by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, 65 percent of Israelis were found opposing the criminal prosecution of the soldiers. On Saturday, Adel Sbeih, a Gazan freed in the sixth captive/prisoner exchange, told a harrowing tale of his experience in prison. 'They sawed my leg off and told me Gaza was no more,' he says in a viral video. The PCHR is publishing a report in March 2025 on the enforced disappearance of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza during the war. PCHR director Raji Sourani says the findings are 'shocking to the bones.' Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Who are the two-decade-long Israeli captives set to be released in 7th Israel-Hamas prisoner swap?
Hamas will release Israelis Avraham 'Avera' Mengistu, 38, and Hisham Al-Sayed, 37, captured in the Gaza Strip a decade ago, in the last prisoner swap under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group on Saturday. In exchange for the decade-long captives, Israel will release 46 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences. These prisoners, who were previously freed in the Shalit deal but later rearrested, will be deported abroad as part of the agreement. It will also release 444 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza arrested after 7 October, along with 48 serving life sentences — some facing deportation — and 60 others with long sentences, in exchange for the four other living captives. Hamas fighters captured the two men on two separate instances in the Gaza Strip after they crossed into the territory on their own in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Ahram Online looks at the stories of Avera and Hisham, both of whom suffer from mental illness, as they present a unique case. Who are Avraham "Avera" Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed? Avera was born in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 1987. He lived in Ashkelon (Asqalan), a coastal city only 13 kilometres away from Gaza. Mengistu crossed into northern Gaza from the beach at Zikim on 7 September 2014, where Hamas fighters captured him. However, Tel Aviv tried to cover up his disappearance, and it was not until July 2015 that an Israeli judge agreed to lift a gag order on the case, which made it public. As information about the case leaked, the Israeli public grew more outraged. 'On 7 September 2014, Israeli citizen Avraham Mengistu intentionally crossed the border fence into the Gaza Strip, and according to reliable intelligence information, he is being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip,' read a subsequent Israeli defense ministry statement. According to Israeli media reports, Mengistu's family was upset with the government's reaction, explaining that greater efforts would have been exerted to recover him had he been white, as was the case with Gilad Shalit in 2011. Mengistu's family also stated that their son had a mental illness, which remains unspecified. Documents from the Israeli Health Ministry, as reviewed by Human Rights Watch (HRW), reveal that Mengistu was hospitalized in a psychiatric facility for 19 days in January 2013. He spent 12 days at Beersheva Hospital voluntarily and seven days involuntarily. Israeli government allegedly redacted his diagnosis from the official documents released to the family. Tila Fenta, a relative who has led a campaign to get Avraham released, told the BBC in October 2023, days after 7 October, that the family feels let down by the Israeli state - though she says the international spotlight on Israelis captured by Hamas, now might help her cause. "I think Avera is a man who society doesn't like so much because of his colour, mental illness problem and having grown up in a poor area of Ashkelon, she said. "I think all this made him not wanted in society. If he was a bit brighter or from a good area, the treatment would be different. I know this isn't the time to say something wrong about my country, but the truth must be told." She said big human rights organizations should also have done more. "The same goes for the Bedouin - both are disadvantaged. Hisham Al-Sayed is a Bedouin Arab Israeli, a 1948 Palestinian. Born in 1988, he lived in the Negev [Naqab] desert's Al-Sayed village and is the oldest of eight siblings. Hamas fighters captured him on 20 April 2015, when he crossed into the Strip via a breach in the security fence. In statements to Israeli media, Al-Sayed's family said that he suffers from poor health and mental illness. Medical documents published by Israel claim that al-Sayed has suffered from hearing loss since 2007. Other medical documents published by HRW in 2017 indicate that he has been suffering from 'a personality disorder and unspecified behavioural and emotional disturbances' since 2009. The HRW report also states that Al-Sayed was diagnosed with 'severe mental illness' in 2010, while his final diagnosis in 2013 showed that he was suffering from 'schizophrenia.' It's worth noting that the families of Israeli captives have been persistently advocating for their repatriation. In Israeli media interviews, the families argued that the recovery of their captive members should have been the primary goal of the 'conflict.' However, Netanyahu's government prioritized 'wiping out Hamas' by carrying out a 15-month genocidal war, one of the bloodiest in recent history. The Israeli occupation forces killed at least 46,788 Palestinians, 17,881 of which were children, and injured 110,453 since 7 October. At least 1.9 million people - 90 percent of the Gazan population - were also displaced, per a United Nations (UN) report. On Thursday, Hamas released the remains of four Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as stipulated in the Gaza truce, stating that it worked to preserve their lives, but Israel's war on the strip killed them and their guards. Civilians or soldiers? The military status of both Israelis has been subject to debate since their capture. Question marks have been persistently following both captives, with Hamas believing them to be soldiers, while Tel Aviv claims they are not. Israeli authorities stated that Al-Sayed was not a soldier in the army. He volunteered for military service on 18 August 2008 but was discharged on 6 November of the same year, as he was found 'unfit for service' due to 'health and psychological reasons.' Hamas' first mention of either man was in April 2016, when Al-Qassam Brigades announced via pre-recorded video they had captured four Israeli soldiers; two of them - Shaul Aron and Hadar Goldin - whose bodies were detained during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014, and the other two are Mengistu and Al-Sayed. The video included photos of Mengistu and Al-Sayed in Israeli military uniforms. In a meeting with HRW in September 2016, Palestinian politician and Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar 'refused to acknowledge the detention of Mengistu and Al-Sayed.' HRW also stated that al-Zahar told them that 'there are no civilians in Israel' since all serve in the army and that 'Israelis who enter Gaza are spies.' Mengistu's brother, Ilan, told Israeli media that his brother had previously gone missing on two or three occasions, all to northern Israel. On the other hand, Al-Sayed has a much more extensive disappearance track record, with his father, Sha'ban Al-Sayed, revealing he disappeared to the occupied West Bank at least 15 times and walked to Jordan once. Various reports claim he also crossed into Egypt previously. Additionally, Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported on an incident in February 2010 of a man who fits al-Sayed's profile crossing into Gaza. Within the same week, sources told Nazareth-based Palestinian news platform Bokra that the trespasser was Hisham Al-Sayed. '[Hisham] is not a soldier. He has been ill since his teenage years. He loves to walk for hours and hours and he is very social. He likes the attention when he goes places he knows are forbidden. People usually realize quite quickly that he is ill and help him get home,' Sha'ban told the Observer in a 2024 interview. 'He went to Gaza too, and the Bedouin we know there helped return him within 24 hours. But the Hamas leadership changed in 2014, and his luck ran out.' Captive/Prisoner treatment: A study in ethics Hamas released a 39-second video of Al-Sayed looking sickly in bed, wearing an oxygen mask, on 28 June 2022. The Palestinian resistance group asked Israel for a deal to release their ill, possibly dying, captive. A TV tuned to Al Jazeera in the background proved the video was recent. While Tel Aviv renewed efforts to recover al-Sayed, they did not reach an exchange deal with Hamas before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Despite his illness, Hamas managed to keep Al-Sayed alive. For a decade, they have been providing food and medical services. Hamas' humane treatment of its captives also extended to Mengistu, whose last appearance was in an undated video released by Hamas in January 2023, nearly a year before 7 October. In the video, Mengistu looks well. 'I am the captive Avera Mengistu. Until when will I be here in captivity, me and my friends,' he says. 'After many years of the pain. Where are the country and the people of Israel from our destiny?' During Israel's 15-month genocidal war on Gaza, there has been 'no mention' of the Palestinians that Israel has detained since October 2023, which include 18,000 to 20,000 forcibly disappeared, per Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) estimates. In June 2024, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir called for a bill to enable the mass execution of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. A report on the pattern of administrative detention from 2001 to 2024 by the Israeli B'tsleem rights group shows a sharp and unprecedented surge since 2021 in the number of Palestinians arrested by the Israeli authorities over the past three years and since the current extreme right government came to power in 2022. 'Testimonies clearly indicate a system, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,' reads a B'tsleem report titled Welcome to Hell. 'Frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation, prohibition on, and punitive measure for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment - these descriptions appear time and again in the testimonies, in horrifying detail and with chilling similarities.' The report was published mere days ahead of the Sde Teiman detention facility gang-rape case coming to light. A group of Israeli occupation forces gang-raped a Gazan prisoner in a video leaked from the prison and aired on Israeli Channel 12 in August 2024. In a poll published by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, 65 percent of Israelis were found opposing the criminal prosecution of the soldiers. On Saturday, Adel Sbeih, a Gazan freed in the sixth captive/prisoner exchange, told a harrowing tale of his experience in prison. 'They sawed my leg off and told me Gaza was no more,' he says in a viral video. The PCHR is publishing a report in March 2025 on the enforced disappearance of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza during the war. The findings, he said, are 'shocking to the bones.' Short link:
Egypt Today
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Today
Hamas hands over four bodies of Israeli captives
Preparation for handing over the sixth batch of three Israeli captives as per the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel on February 15, 2025- photo from Palestinian journalists' Telegram accounts CAIRO – 20 February 2025: Hamas movement has handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives, including Bibas family (two young boys and their mother), as part of the ceasefire agreement between the movement and Israel after tireless efforts of mediation from Egypt, Qatar, and the US. The Red Cross team signed documents on receiving the bodies of the four Israeli captives amid a large public presence. In a statement, Hamas movement's Al-Qassam Brigades and the other resistance factions said that they were keen to respect the sanctity of the dead and the feelings of their families during the ceremony of handing over the bodies of the prisoners, even though the occupation army did not respect their lives. In a message to the family of the Israeli captives' Bibas and Lifshitz, Hamas said that the movement 'would have preferred your sons to return to you alive, but your army and government leaders chose to kill them instead of bringing them back.' Hamas movement added that the only way for the return of the Israeli prisoners alive is through the prisoner swap deal, adding that any attempt to retrieve them by military force or return to war will only result in more losses among the prisoners. On Saturday, Hamas will release six living Israeli captives, double the number initially agreed upon in the swap. Head of the Hamas Movement Khalil Al-Hayya said Israel, in return, will release Palestinian prisoners on the same day. These captives are the last living prisoners set to be freed during the first phase of the ceasefire in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Among the captives scheduled for release on Saturday are Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, according to Hayya. They were captured in 2014 and 2015 after crossing into Gaza. In return, a total of 800 Palestinian prisoners will be released as part of the deal on Saturday. The would-be released Palestinians inmates will include 445 prisoners from the Gaza Strip, who were arrested after October 7, 2023, 110 prisoners serving life sentences or long-term sentences, and 47 prisoners who were released in the 2011 Shalit deal and then re-arrested. Also, the Palestinian prisoners will include 200 women and children under the age of 19 from Gaza, who were arrested during the war. Additionally, senior leaders of the Qassam Brigades in the West Bank, most notably Abdel Nasser Issa, Othman Bilal, and Ammar Al-Zaben, will be among the would-be released prisoners. As the first phase of the ceasefire approaches its final week, Hamas has committed to releasing all remaining bodies of the agreed-upon deceased captives it holds. The movement has also expressed readiness to release all captives designated for phase two of the ceasefire deal with Israel in a single operation. Phase two entails a permanent end to the war, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the release of all captives held by Hamas, whether alive or deceased. Talks intended to initiate this phase were scheduled to begin earlier this month but have not yet commenced. Since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect in Gaza on January 19, Hamas has released 24 individuals captured from Israel on October 7, 2023, with more than 70 captives still held there, including dead ones. In return, Israel has released a total of 1,135 Palestinian prisoners, including many serving life sentences. The agreement, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, has halted over 15 months of Israeli war that devastated the enclave and killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children. Additional reporting by Amr Mohamed Kandil
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli victims of terror concerned with murderers' release from prison, relieved 7 hostages back home
As part of the second stage of the high-stakes ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, four female hostages who had been held by the terror group in Gaza for 477 days — Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag — were reunited with their families Saturday. In exchange, Israel released 121 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for deadly terror attacks and an additional 79 prisoners serving lengthy sentences. The release of Palestinian prisoners — some convicted of heinous terrorist acts — has stirred profound emotions and debate across Israel. While the deal has helped the return of hostages held in Gaza, it comes at a heavy cost. Families of victims of the released prisoners have expressed anguish, grappling with the pain of reopening old wounds while recognizing the importance of reuniting hostages with their loved ones. Hamas Releases 4 Female Hostages As Part Of Israel Ceasefire Hillel Fuld, whose brother Ari was killed six years ago by a Palestinian terrorist, shared the personal toll of hearing the perpetrator might be freed. Read On The Fox News App "It's a punch to the gut, for sure, but I don't think our personal loss changes our opinion on this deal," Fuld said. "It's both terrible and beautiful — terrible strategically, but beautiful because the hostages' families get to reunite with their loved ones." Fuld also highlighted security concerns. "My understanding is that the terrorist who murdered my brother will be deported outside of Israel, to Turkey or Qatar," Fuld said. "I'm not overly worried about that, but those returning to Judea and Samaria are definitely a security concern. I hope the government has a plan for what comes next." Orit Mark Ettinger lost her father, Michael Mark, in a 2016 terrorist attack. Her younger brother, Pedaya, who survived the attack that killed their father, was killed in Gaza. Two of her cousins were also victims of terror attacks. "When I first heard about the decision to release terrorist prisoners in exchange for hostages, I felt deep pain and anguish," Ettinger told Fox New Digital, "Releasing murderers who destroyed entire lives is unbearable. No one can bring my father back. Meanwhile, the terrorist who murdered him may now walk freely on the street. "One of my father's murderers had already been released in the Shalit deal and returned to kill. We understand who we're dealing with, which is why we fear the repercussions of releasing murderers with blood on their hands. But we cannot leave the hostages — innocent people — living in hell in Gaza. They must come home." Two of the prisoners released Saturday were involved in the terrorist attack that killed her father. Among the 1,900 prisoners to be released in the ceasefire agreement are individuals responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Israeli history. Wael Qassem is serving 35 life sentences for orchestrating suicide bombings that killed 35 people. Majdi Za'atri, sentenced to 23 life terms, drove a suicide bomber to a Jerusalem bus stop in 2003, killing 23, including children. Another terrorist released on Saturday, according to the Israelis, was Mardawi Tabat, who "was serving 21 life sentences for murdering 21 civilians and injuring 150 others in five suicide bombings and shooting attacks," according to a post on X. Other high-profile prisoners include Ammar Al-Ziben, serving 32 life sentences for planning multiple suicide bombings, including the double bombing at the Mahane Yehuda Market in 1997 that killed 16. Ahmad Salah, serving 21 life sentences, was involved in two Jerusalem suicide bus bombings in 2004 that killed 19 people and injured over 100. Israeli General Security Service Director Ronen Bar warned that 82% of the 1,024 prisoners released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit exchange returned to terrorism. "Many of the leaders of Hamas who orchestrated the Oct. 7 massacre were among those released in previous deals," Bar told the security cabinet, while still recommending going ahead with the deal. Bittersweet Rejoicing As First Hostages Return To Israel After 471 Days In Captivity Zohar Dvir, former commander of the elite Yamam counterterrorism unit, told Fox News Digital, "Arresting such a terrorist requires immense investment in intelligence, planning, creativity and a high level of risk for our forces, who often pay a heavy price. However, when it comes to the lives of many hostages, we are compelled to pay a heavy price by releasing terrorists. "The chances of rescuing them alive diminish dramatically from one operation to the next, as time passes. The way to release hostages alive is through a deal. Talking from experience, the security establishment has a long memory and will settle accounts with everyone sooner or later, wherever they may be." Israeli journalist Yair Cherki, whose brother was killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, weighed in on the deal's implications. "Israel succumbed to humanitarian pressure at the most critical moment, providing aid that effectively reinforced Hamas's civilian control in Gaza," Cherki said. "Diplomatically, the strategy relied entirely on waiting for Trump, which proved to be a dead end. Like Biden's "don't," Trump's gates of hell also worked both ways, leaving Israel without any diplomatic leverage. "After 15 months, the time for the hostages has run out, and Israel is left with no choice but to accept the deal to bring the hostages home and begin healing a fractured society. Releasing these terrorists is not just a problem for the victims' families, but for all Israeli society and future victims. "This cycle of deals leading to murder and kidnapping must end. Releasing the hostages reflects our society's commitment to life and mutual responsibility. This is our DNA." Even those directly affected, like Fuld and Ettinger, acknowledge the hostages must be prioritized. "Most families support the deal because they would do anything to bring their loved ones back," Ettinger noted. "But we fear these released terrorists will harm others." Cherki underscored the collective responsibility of Israeli society. "This deal is not just about individual families," Cherki said. "It's about a society's commitment to life and solidarity. Despite its flaws, this deal may serve as a key to healing a broken nation."Original article source: Israeli victims of terror concerned with murderers' release from prison, relieved 7 hostages back home
