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Terror Leaders & Operatives: More Details on the Palestinian Prisoners That Have Been Set Free

Supporters and family members of hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, hold lit torches during a protest ahead of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shir Torem

As part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are set to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups in Gaza.

Alongside the over 1,000 Gazans who were detained by the Israeli military during the current war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli government released a list of over 700 imprisoned Palestinians who will potentially be released as part of this deal.

While the media may focus on those who are imprisoned under the system of administrative detention or the women and teens on the list, it is clear from the information provided by the Israeli government that the vast majority of those slated for release are men with ties to internationally-designated terror groups, some of whom have blood on their hands and are serving long prison sentences.

The following is a breakdown of the 733 Palestinian prisoners listed by the Israeli government according to gender, age, charges, imprisonment status, terror affiliation, and whether they will be exiled to a third country:

Breakdown of Prisoners by Gender

Breakdown of Prisoners by Age

Breakdown of Prisoners by Charges

Violent offenses include murder, attempted murder, possession of weapons, kidnapping, rock-throwing, shooting, production of weapons, and assault.

Non-violent offenses include membership in a terror org, incitement, and breach of probation.

Sentenced Prisoners v Detainees

Breakdown of Prisoners by Terror Affiliation

Fatah includes Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades

Prisoners Remaining in Region v Prisoners Being Exiled to a Third Country

Who Are the Most Dangerous Prisoners on the List?

Among the 733 Palestinian prisoners slated to be released as part of the ceasefire deal are many with Israeli blood on their hands, including terrorist leaders and masterminds.

The following are just some of the most dangerous Palestinian terrorists set to be let go in the coming weeks:

Zakaria Zubeidi

  • Served as chief of the Fatah-aligned Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin during the Second Intifada.
  • Was involved in several terror attacks, including the 2002 bombing of Likud headquarters in Beit Shean, which killed six Israelis.
  • Was given amnesty by Israel in 2007 in return for renouncing violence.
  • Arrested in 2019 for shooting at two Israeli civilian buses in the West Bank.
  • Took part in the 2021 breakout from Gilboa Prison. Was re-arrested a few days later.

Tabat Mardawi

  • Senior Islamic Jihad leader from Jenin.
  • Responsible for several bombings and shootings during the Second Intifada, including the suicide bombing of Bus #83 in Afula and the suicide attacks on the Binyamina and Hadera central bus stations.
  • Serving 21 life sentences and an additional 40 years in prison for his role in the murder of 21 Israelis and the wounding of 190 more.

Ahmed Barghouti

  • Senior aide and cousin of notorious Palestinian terrorist and prisoner Marwan Barghouti.
  • Served as the head of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Ramallah.
  • Orchestrated several bombing and shooting attacks during the Second Intifada, including a shooting spree on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem, a suicide attack at the Maccabim checkpoint, and a shooting attack at a Tel Aviv seafood restaurant.
  • Serving 13 life sentences for his role in the murder of 12 Israeli civilians.

Mohammad Abu Warda

  • Member of Hamas.
  • Serving 48 life sentences for orchestrating the 1996 suicide bombing attacks on the number 18 bus line in Jerusalem, which killed 45 people.
  • Described by the military prosecutor as “a mass murderer standing before the court today.”

Mohammed Naifeh

  • Member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
  • Serving 13 life sentences for dispatching the terrorists in the 2002 attacks on Kibbutz Metzer and Hermesh, which killed 8 Israelis (including a 34-year-old woman and her two infant children).
  • In 2018, was accused of attempting to orchestrate a terror attack from prison.
  • Considered to be one of the “most senior Palestinian prisoners in Israel.”

The Silwan Squad

  • Three members (Wael Qassem, Wissam Abasi, and Muhammad Odeh) of the four-person Hamas cell are slated to be released.
  • Orchestrated five terror attacks between March and June 2022, including the suicide attacks on Café Moment in Jerusalem, the Sheffield Club in Rishon Letzion, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
  • Serving multiple life sentences for the murder of 35 people (including four Americans) and the wounding of hundreds more.

Mahmoud Attallah

  • Member of Fatah.
  • Serving one life sentence and 15 years for the 2003 murder of a Palestinian woman suspected of collaborating with Israeli security forces.
  • Accused of the rape and sexual abuse of female Israeli prison guards while incarcerated at Gilboa Prison.

Ahmad Obeid

  • Head of Hamas terror cell in Jerusalem.
  • Dispatched the suicide bomber who blew up Café Hillel in Jerusalem, killing seven people and wounding 64 more.
  • Serving 7 life sentences.

Sami Jaradat

  • Islamic Jihad operative from Jenin.
  • Dispatched the suicide bomber (who happened to be his close relative) who blew up Maxim Restaurant in Haifa, killing 21 people and wounding 60 more.
  • Serving 21 life sentences and 50 more years of imprisonment.

Abdullah Sharbati, Majdi Zaatari & Samer al-Atrash

  • Members of a Hamas terror cell based in Jerusalem.
  • Orchestrated the suicide bombing attacks on Jerusalem bus #2 (which killed 23 people, including 7 children), Jerusalem bus #14, and Jerusalem bus #6.
  • Planned future terror attacks, including a suicide bombing of a banquet hall, the kidnapping of IDF soldiers, and the mass-poisoning of a Beit Shemesh delicatessen’s food supply.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Terror Leaders & Operatives: More Details on the Palestinian Prisoners That Have Been Set Free first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials

FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

i24 NewsIranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.

“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.

The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.

The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.

According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”

The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.

Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.

Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.

The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.

Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.

There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.

The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.

Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.

US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS

The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.

The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.

The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say

Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo

The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.

The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.

The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.

The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.

The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.

The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.

While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.

The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.

USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.

One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.

The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.

The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.

Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.

The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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