Israel is set to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners over the course of an initial 42-day ceasefire, according to the terms of the agreement, starting with at least 90 on Sunday in exchange for the release of three Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The Israelis say many of the prisoners are terrorists and murderers. Many Palestinians view the jailed fighters as freedom fighters against Israeli rule, and say others have been imprisoned by an unfair Israeli military justice system.
Below are a number of the most prominent Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released under the ceasefire, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
Zakaria Al-Zubaidi
For the past two decades, Zakaria Zubaidi, 49, has been an activist, theater director and escaped prisoner whose escape stunned Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Mr. Zubaidi rose to prominence as a militant leader during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, during which Palestinian militants committed deadly attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings that targeted civilian roads.
Israel responded by reoccupying major Palestinian cities amid street battles. Some of the toughest battles took place in the Palestinian city of Jenin, Zubaidi’s hometown. He later emerged as a senior commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed militia loosely linked to the secular Fatah movement, the dominant Palestinian political faction in the West Bank.
After the uprising, Mr. Al-Zubaidi worked in Theater inside Jenin refugee camp. In 2019, Israel arrested him again on charges of returning to extremism.
Two years later, Mr. Zubaidi and five other Palestinian prisoners staged a prison break by crawling approximately 32 yards through an underground tunnel outside a maximum-security Israeli prison. Although they were later recovered, the security breach shocked Israelis and excited Palestinians.
An Israeli drone strike killed Mr. Zubaidi’s son, Mohammed, in September. The Israeli army described the son as a “major terrorist” and said that he participated in shooting at Israeli forces.
Wissam Abbasi, Mohammad Odeh and Wael Qassim
Wissam Abbasi (48 years old), Muhammad Odeh (52 years old), and Wael Qassem (54 years old) were imprisoned in 2002 on charges of carrying out Hamas attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada. According to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, the three men were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and a series of other crimes.
According to contemporary Israeli media reports, the men were among many convicted of crimes Involved in a Hamas cell in Jerusalem He was responsible for a series of bombings that killed more than 30 Israelis in crowded civilian areas.
The attacks included a bombing carried out by Hamas at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which led to a death Nine peopleincluding four American citizens, according to Israeli authorities.
The New York Times reported at the time, citing Israeli officials, that Mr. Odeh, who worked as a draftsman at the university, planted the bomb in a cafeteria and covered it with a newspaper. When he left, he remotely detonated the 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 the Israeli Ministry of Justice. They will be required to live in exile, although it is unclear where they will be allowed to go.
Khaleda Jarrar
One of the most prominent Palestinian female prisoners expected to be released on Sunday is Khalida Jarrar (62 years old), a leader in the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Ms. Jarrar, a prominent activist for the rights of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons, 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 became notorious in the late 1960s for a series of plane hijackings, as well as other attacks, including during the Second Intifada.
Her husband, Ghassan Jarrar, said in a phone interview that the Israeli authorities have not allowed him to visit his wife since her arrest in December 2023. He is looking forward to any news he can get about her condition through rare visits by her lawyer. He said.
Ms. Jarrar has spent most of the past decade in and out of Israeli prisons, although she has not been convicted of direct involvement in the Popular Front’s military activities. In 2015, she was sentenced to 15 months in prison on charges of incitement and belonging to a banned organization.
In recent years, Israel has often detained Ms. Jarrar without bringing formal charges against her. Human rights groups describe the practice as a blatant violation of due process, while Israel says it is sometimes necessary to protect sensitive intelligence.
In 2021, her daughter Soha died while Ms. Jarrar was detained in an Israeli prison. Israel rejected a request to grant her humanitarian leave to attend the funeral.