As part of the negotiated hostage-prisoner exchange agreement, Israel released 200 prisoners with terrorist affiliations today.
More than half of the released prisoners had been serving life sentences for carrying out terror attacks that resulted in the deaths of numerous victims.
The media reports indicate that 114 prisoners were freed from Ofer Prison and sent to Ramallah, while 16 others were transferred to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Additionally, 70 prisoners were deported to Egypt. Out of the 200 released, 120 had been serving life sentences for murder, with some of the convicted killers being sent to Egypt, though not all. Many of the released individuals returned to Gaza, Judea, and Samaria, and a few even went back to Yerushalayim.
However, two prisoners initially declined to board the buses that were supposed to take them to Gaza. One of them was ultimately convinced to go, but the other steadfastly refused to leave Keziot Prison and was eventually replaced by a different prisoner. The prisoner who chose to stay in Israel rather than return to Gaza has not been identified.
According to Egyptian media, the 70 prisoners sent to Egypt will remain in Cairo for about a week before being relocated to other areas.
One of the prisoners released was 67-year-old Mohammed Al-Tous, who holds the record as the longest-serving Palestinian terrorist prisoner. Al-Tous had been incarcerated for 39 years after being convicted for a terror attack in 1985.
Raed Al-Saadi, 57, was also among those released on Saturday. He had been imprisoned in 1989 for carrying out attacks during the First Intifada, resulting in the deaths of IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians. Arab media reports note that he had been scheduled for release in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap but had not been freed at that time.
Among the 70 deported prisoners were the Abu Hmeid brothers from Ramallah—Mohammed and Sharif—both sentenced to life for their involvement in terrorism. Their older brother, Nasser, passed away in prison from cancer in late 2022, and his body remains in Israeli custody. Nasser had been a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group affiliated with Fatah.