Israel-Gaza Ceasefire Agreement: Which Palestinian Prisoners Can Be Freed? | News from prison

More than a thousand Palestinian prisoners, many held without charge for years in the Israeli prison system, are preparing for their first taste of freedom.

The exact number of prisoners released in exchange for Israeli prisoners held in Gaza is not clear. The text of the cease-fire agreement has not yet been released, and details reported by the media describe different prisoner-to-prisoner exchange ratios depending on whether Palestinian prisoners are serving life sentences or not.

There are currently 10,400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, not including those detained by Gaza during the past 15 months of conflict, according to the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society.

Israel's Justice Ministry released a list of 95 Palestinian women and children to be released on Sunday if the cease-fire agreement goes into effect, but the names of the prisoners to be released are not known.

According to the scheme of the deal, their release will not happen before Sunday at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

The list of names released by Israel shows that the vast majority were arrested after Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, according to media reports. Fewer than 10 were arrested before the attacks.

First phase

During the first stage of the three-phase agreement between Hamas and Israel, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners will be exchanged for 33 of the remaining Israeli prisoners, estimated to total around 100.

Under the terms of the agreement, Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for Israeli prisoners according to ratios agreed by the two countries and international mediators in Doha.

According to reports, 110 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life in prison by Israeli courts will be exchanged for nine sick and injured Israeli prisoners. In addition, Israeli men over the age of 50 will be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners with a ratio of 1:3 for those sentenced to life imprisonment and 1:27 for serving other sentences.

Previous prisoner exchanges

Prisoners have long been used as currency in Israel's dealings with Palestinian groups.

During the have stalled peace talks since 2013Israel agreed to the phased release of more than 100 Palestinians in a move aimed at boosting negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time.

however closer parallels to the current exchange can be found in the 1983 prisoner swap, when more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for six Israeli soldiers. Similarly, in 1985 about 1,150 Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for three Israeli soldiers. The current swap is also similar in scope to perhaps the most famous prisoner swap, which involved the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

Exchange of Gilad Shalit

1,027 Palestinian prisoners were exchanged in 2011. for Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in a cross-border operation in 2006. and held for five years until negotiations for his release failed.

In 2014 the Israeli government admitted it had re-arrested 51 of those prisoners after the kidnapping and eventual killing of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank. Explaining these arrests afterward, Netanyahu made no attempt to link those arrested to the missing teenagers, saying only that their abduction sent an “important message” to Hamas.

High-ranking prisoners

Israel's Army Radio reported that Khalida Jarrar, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the occupied West Bank, was among the Palestinian prisoners to be released on Sunday.

The Palestinians are also calling for the release of several other high-profile prisoners, including some serving life sentences.

Among them is one of the leading figures of the Palestinian group Fatah, Marwan Barghouti, whose long-awaited release was repeatedly blocked by the Israeli authorities. The release of Barghouti, who in 2006 helped write the Palestinian Prisoners' Document, uniting many of the disparate Palestinian factions, may have important implications for Palestinian politics as a unifying figure repeatedly come out on top when Palestinians are asked who they would vote for in future presidential elections.

Contacted by Al Jazeera on Friday, Barghouti's representatives, including family members, said that while they were hopeful, they had not received word of his possible release.

Another high-profile Palestinian prisoner is Ahmed Saadat, the head of the PFLP, who was accused by Israel of ordering the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in ​​2001, although the Justice Department initially ruled that he had there is not enough evidence to blame him for the murder.

What did the prisoners endure?

Although the locations where many of the prisoners slated for release are being held are unknown, human rights groups have long expressed concern about conditions in Israel's prison system.

In August, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem published an extensive report detailing a network of Israeli detention centers that it described as “torture camps.” The global NGO Human Rights Watch, too published reports on the Israeli prison system in July and August detailing rape, the sharing of sexualized images of Palestinian prisoners, including children, and the systematic torture of detainees.

In July 2024 Israel's minister in charge of the prison system, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, he boasted that “everything published about the abominable conditions Palestinians were subjected to in Israeli prisons 'is true.'

More than 3,000 Palestinian prisoners are also being held administrative detentionmeaning they were held without trial or charge.