Israel will release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners during a 42-day ceasefire, according to the terms of the deal, which starts at least 90 on Sunday in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The Israelis say many of the prisoners are terrorists and murderers. Many Palestinians see the arrested terrorists as freedom fighters against the Israeli regime, and say that some are imprisoned by the Israeli military’s unjust justice system.
Here are a few prominent Palestinian prisoners who will be released under the ceasefire agreement, according to Israel’s Ministry of Justice.
Zakaria Zubeidi
For the past two decades, Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, has been an activist, a theater director, and an escaped prisoner whose escape stunned Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Mr. Zubeidi rose to prominence as a military leader during the Second Intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s, when Palestinian terrorists carried out deadly attacks on Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings targeting civilian streets.
Israel responded by reoccupying major Palestinian cities amid street battles. Some of the heaviest fighting took place in the Palestinian city of Jenin, Mr Zubeidi’s hometown. He later emerged as a top commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed force loosely linked to the Fatah party, the dominant Palestinian political party in the West Bank.
After the rebellion, Mr. Zubeidi worked in a theater in the fortified Jenin refugee camp. In 2019, Israel arrested him again on charges that he had returned to the military.
After two years, Mr. Zubeidi and five other Palestinian prisoners broke into the prison by crawling about 32 yards through an underground tunnel outside one of Israel’s maximum security prisons. Although they were later recaptured, the security breach shocked the Israelis and delighted the Palestinians.
An Israeli airstrike killed Mr Zubeidi’s son, Mohammad, in September. The Israeli military called the son a “critical terrorist” and said he was involved in shooting Israeli soldiers.
Wissam Abbasi, Mohammad Odeh and Wael Qassim
Wissam Abbasi, 48, Mohammad Odeh, 52, and Wael Qassim, 54, were arrested in 2002 on suspicion of Hamas attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada. According to the Ministry of Justice in Israel, the three men were sentenced to life in prison for murder and a series of other crimes.
According to Israeli media reports at the time, these men were among those convicted of involvement in a Hamas cell in Jerusalem that caused a series of bombings that killed more than 30 Israelis in densely populated areas.
The attack included a Hamas bomb blast at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that killed nine people, including four American citizens, according to Israeli authorities.
Mr. Odeh, who worked as a painter at the university, planted the bomb in the cafeteria and covered it with newspaper, The New York Times reported at the time, citing Israeli officials. As he was leaving, he detonated an explosive device with a cell phone, officials said.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, the men will not be allowed to return to their homes in Jerusalem, according to Israel’s justice ministry. They will have to live in exile, although it is not clear where they will be allowed to go.
Khalida Jarrar
One of the prominent Palestinian prisoners expected to be released early Sunday is Khalida Jarrar, 62, who is the leader of the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Ms. Jarrar, a prominent activist for the rights of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, was elected to the Palestinian Parliament in the 2006 elections.
The United States and the European Union consider the Popular Front a terrorist organization. The group gained notoriety in the late 1960s for a series of hijackings, and other attacks, including during the Second Intifada.
Ghassan Jarrar, her husband, said in a telephone interview that Israeli authorities have not allowed him to visit his wife since her arrest in December 2023. He has withheld any news of her condition from visits by his lawyer. said.
Ms. Jarrar has spent much of the past decade in and out of Israeli prisons, although she has not been found guilty of direct involvement in the Popular Front’s military activities. In 2015, he was sentenced to 15 months for inciting and belonging to a banned organization.
In recent years, Israel has largely detained Ms. Jarrar without formal charges. Rights groups call the practice a serious violation of due process, while Israel says it is sometimes necessary to protect sensitive intelligence.
In 2021, her daughter Suha died while Ms. Jarrar was being held in an Israeli prison. Israel refused the request to give him the opportunity to attend the funeral.
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