The agreement does not obligate Israel to free anyone convicted of murder, but several in the list came close.
By Baruch Yedid, JNS
Israel and Hamas are exchanging lists of abductees and imprisoned terrorists ahead of a partial prisoner exchange and temporary ceasefire brokered by Qatar. Details of the agreement are being finalized in Doha and a formal announcement is expected later on Thursday.
Until then, fighting continues in the Gaza Strip.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, 150 Palestinian security prisoners and 50 Israeli hostages—primarily women and children—will be released in stages over a four-day period. Israel published a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners of whom 150 will be freed.
Israeli victims of terrorism have a 24-hour window to file petitions against the prisoner releases to the High Court of Justice.
While some of the Palestinians aren’t associated with any specific terrorist group, many are affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Under the terms of the agreement, the released Palestinians will be allowed to return to their previous residences.
Notable terrorists
The agreement does not obligate Israel to release anyone convicted of murder, but several of the Palestinians in the list of 300 came close.
Ataf Jaradat, 50, had advance knowledge of her son, Mohammed’s plan to murder Yehuda Dimentman in 2021 and helped him hide the weapons used in the attack.
Shurok Deviat was jailed for the attempted murder of two Jews in a 2015 stabbing attack in Jerusalem. On the day of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacres in southern Israel, Deviat was promised on social media that she would be released.
Muhammad Abu Katish, 17, carried out a stabbing attack in October 2022 that left his 20-year-old Israeli victim paralyzed.
Sixteen-year-old Nafod Hamed stabbed Moriah Cohen as she walked with her five children in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shimon HaTzaddik (Sheikh Jarrah) in 2021. If released, Hamed will return to his home next door to the Cohens.
Would-be suicide bomber Israa Jaabis survived when she blew up a car with gas canisters near Ma’ale Adumim in 2015. A police officer was wounded in the attack. Jaabis made headlines in 2022 when her request for a nose job was rejected by the Israel Prison Service as a cosmetic procedure not necessary for her health.
Fatma Amarna, 44, was convicted of stabbing a police officer outside a gate leading to the Temple Mount. Amarna is a member of the Mourabitoun, a group of Palestinian men and women who harass Jews visiting the Temple Mount. She is expected to return to the Mourabitoun after her release.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria are preparing celebrations to welcome the terrorists home.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. Another approximately 240 men, women and children were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Some people remain unaccounted for as Israeli authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.