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As part of the ongoing hostage release deal with Hamas, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are set to be freed from Israeli jails on Saturday in exchange for the release of hostages Sagui Dekel-Chen, Iair Horn and Sasha Troufanov.
According to Hamas' Media Office for Prisoners, 369 prisoners will be released — 36 serving life sentences and 333 Gazans who were arrested after October 7. This is the largest batch of Gazan prisoners released in the first phase of the deal so far.
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Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya in front of an IDF armored personnel carrier
One of the prisoners reportedly set for release is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabaliya refugee camp. He was arrested in December 2024 on suspicion of working for Hamas during an IDF raid on the facility.
Also on the list is Ahmed Barghouti, an aide to terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who was Fatah’s secretary-general in the West Bank. He was arrested on April 15, 2002, and Hamas reportedly demanded his release as part of the deal.
Marwan Barghouti orchestrated attacks that killed five Israelis and injured many others. In 2004, he was sentenced to five life terms and an additional 40 years. Israel has denied he will be freed.
Another prisoner set for release is Mohammed Shra’iya, a Palestinian Authority intelligence officer from Bethlehem, who shot and murdered Superintendent Moshe Dayan on March 2, 2002, while Dayan was riding a motorcycle in the Judean Desert. Dayan, 46, left behind a wife and three children.
Superintendent Moshe DayanPhoto: via Izkor websiteShra’iya, originally from Za’atra, was arrested two months later by the Shin Bet after being wounded in a clash between Israeli forces and wanted terrorists holed up in a Bethlehem church. He later admitted to carrying out the attack, saying he targeted Israeli hikers.
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Another terrorist expected to be released is Mansour Muqada, who murdered Dr. Mordechai Shafir on February 26, 2001. Shafir, a 56-year-old Kfar Saba resident, was found dead in his orchard, and his death was mistakenly believed to be an accident for over a year and a half.
In August 2002, IDF forces arrested Muqada, a resident of Zawiya, who admitted to the murder, saying he set out to kill Jews "as revenge for Intifada casualties," referring to the mass uprising of Palestinians against Israel in the early 2000s. He was also linked to other attacks in the West Bank. In February 2003, a Tel Aviv court sentenced him to life with an additional four years.
Another terrorist slated for release is Samir Aite, who participated in the murder of Moran Amit in 2002 in Jerusalem. He was part of a seven-man terror cell he had formed. Aite, 19 at the time, worked as a janitor at an East Jerusalem school where other cell members studied. According his the indictment, he founded the terror cell to carry out attacks against Jews.
Moran AmitPhoto: Gabi MenasheAmit, 25, from Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, was a law student at the University of Haifa and managed an online singles forum. She was hiking with a friend in the forest when masked terrorists ambushed them. The two fled, but Amit tripped. The terrorists caught her, stabbed her repeatedly and fled. She was rushed to the hospital where she succumbed to her wounds.
In January 2003, a Jerusalem court sentenced Aite to life plus 20 years. He was also convicted of prior attempts to carry out attacks in Jerusalem, including a stabbing.