Khaberni - A senior official in Hamas revealed on Wednesday that negotiators from the movement and Israel exchanged lists with names of prisoners and hostages who will be released after an agreement has been reached during the ongoing ceasefire talks in Gaza, held in Egypt.
Israel wants the talks to lead to the release or recovery of the bodies of the remaining 48 hostages detained since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, with it believed that 20 of them are still alive.
Once all the hostages are released, Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, and 1700 residents of Gaza detained since the October 7 attacks, including all women and children. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazan residents, and besides these, Hamas specifically demands the release of certain Palestinian political figures and symbols who are in Israeli prisons.
Abdullah Barghouti
An Israeli military court sentenced him to 67 life sentences in 2004 for his involvement in a series of suicide attacks in 2001 and 2002 that killed dozens of Israelis. The Israeli military stated Barghouti prepared the explosive belts used in the attacks, including an attack on the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem which resulted in 15 deaths. Barghouti, a father of three, was born in Kuwait in 1972. In 1996, he moved with his family to live in Beit Rima village near Ramallah in the West Bank.
Ibrahim Hamed
Ibrahim Hamed was arrested in Ramallah in 2006 and sentenced to 54 life sentences. Israel accuses him of orchestrating suicide attacks that killed dozens of Israelis. Hamed remained on Israel's wanted list for eight years before his arrest. He was the top commander in the West Bank for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
Hassan Salameh
Born in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp in Gaza in 1971, Hassan Salameh was convicted of orchestrating a wave of suicide bombings in Israel in 1996 that killed dozens of Israelis and injured hundreds. He was sentenced to 48 life sentences. Salameh stated that the attacks were a response to the assassination of Hamas bomb maker Yahya Ayyash in 1996.
Marwan Barghouti
Marwan Barghouti is a prominent member of the Fatah movement and considered a potential successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He gained fame as a leader and organizer of two Palestinian intifadas in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, the first in 1987 and the second in 2000. He was arrested in 2002, accused of setting up armed ambushes and orchestrating suicide bombings, and was sentenced to 5 life sentences in 2004.
Fatah officials say he established the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, on orders from Arafat.
Ahmed Sa'adat
Israel accused Ahmed Sa'adat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, of ordering the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001. Sa'adat, who was pursued by Israel, took refuge in Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. Under an agreement with the Palestinian Authority in 2002, Sa'adat was tried in a Palestinian court and imprisoned in one of the Palestinian Authority's prisons under international supervision. The Israeli army arrested Sa'adat in 2006 after the withdrawal of international observers. At his military trial, the charges included joining an armed group, involvement in arms trafficking, and in deadly attacks. However, the Justice Ministry decided there was insufficient evidence to charge Sa'adat with Ze'evi's assassination, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2008.
