Who are the four key prisoners in the anticipated exchange deal between Hamas and Israel?
Four prominent Palestinian prisoners top Hamas’s proposals for a forthcoming prisoner exchange with Israel.
As negotiations opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to finalize U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan, attention has turned to the list of Palestinian detainees that Israel might release in exchange for hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the four prisoners are Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas al-Sayyid.
Marwan Barghouti
Born in 1959, Barghouti was one of Fatah’s most prominent leaders and a member of its Central Committee. He was arrested by Israeli authorities in April 2002 and later sentenced to five life terms for allegedly orchestrating a series of attacks during the Second Intifada.
Barghouti remains one of the most popular Palestinian political figures, consistently ranking high in opinion polls, and is often cited as one of Hamas’s key demands in negotiations. In August, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a leading figure of the far right in Netanyahu’s government, released a video showing him
threatening Barghouti in his prison cell, sparking widespread Palestinian condemnation.
Ahmad Saadat
Saadat became Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in October 2001, after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa.
Israel holds him responsible for planning the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.
He is currently serving a 30-year sentence and had been arrested at least seven times before his current detention in 2006.
Ibrahim Hamed
Hamed served as a senior commander in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank, during the Second Intifada. He was arrested in Ramallah in May 2006.
He is serving the second heaviest sentence in Israeli prisons: 54 life terms.
Israel accuses him of masterminding multiple attacks, including the bombing of the
Moment Café in Jerusalem (11 killed), the Hebrew University cafeteria bombing (9 killed), and other operations.
Abbas al-Sayyid
A senior Hamas leader from Tulkarem, al-Sayyid is accused by Israel of helping plan the March 2002 Passover bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya, which killed 30 people and injured about 160 others.
He was convicted by a Tel Aviv court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Israel has repeatedly excluded his name from previous prisoner exchange deals.
In the 2011 exchange that freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after five years in Hamas captivity in return for 1,027 Palestinian detainees, al-Sayyid was not included.
