The “Life Sentences” List Signals a Crisis in Israel… Is a New Sinwar on the Horizon?

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The first phase of the prisoner exchange involves the release of 1,734 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli detainees.

While all Israeli detainees are women, sick, or injured, the Palestinian list includes 296 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment.

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This list, containing life-term prisoners, is expected to spark debate in Israel and raise fears of a new Yahya Sinwar emerging among them.

Yahya Sinwar, killed during the war, was the Hamas leader whom Israel accuses of being the mastermind behind the events of October 7, when the movement’s fighters attacked Israeli settlements near Gaza and military bases.

Sinwar was sentenced to four life terms, along with additional sentences, but was released in 2011 under the prisoner swap deal known as the Shalit Agreement. Now, Israelis face the possibility that a new leader could emerge among the released prisoners.

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Life sentences are typically issued against Palestinians who killed or participated in killing Israelis, and their only hope for release lies in a prisoner exchange.

This exchange, set to begin tomorrow, Sunday, is described as the largest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Since the announcement of the agreement, Palestinians in their territories have been closely monitoring the lists of prisoners included in the exchange.

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The Israeli Prison Service published a list of 734 prisoners who will be released in the first phase of the exchange, which will be carried out in seven batches over 42 days.

However, the names of 1,000 prisoners captured in Gaza since the war’s onset have not been disclosed, as their release will not require Israeli judicial procedures.

Among the 734 prisoners, 296 are serving life sentences, including 127 from Fatah, 123 from Hamas, 36 from Islamic Jihad, and 10 from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

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Attention often focuses on life-term prisoners, as they are the longest-serving, and their chances of release are almost nonexistent except in rare prisoner exchanges.

However, like many previous agreements, most life-term prisoners will be exiled to foreign countries, Gaza, Qatar, or Turkey, and not allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

Joy has begun to spread across Palestinian territories for the first time since the last prisoner release at the end of 2023.

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Palestinians are preparing to welcome the prisoners in what seems to be the only joyful moment since the war began.

Conversely, the prisoner lists weigh heavily on Israelis, who, as many officials and analysts note, are compelled to pay the price to retrieve their hostages from Gaza.

Israeli Army Radio’s military correspondent, Doron Kadosh, stated: “In the past few hours, I reviewed the full list of 734 prisoners expected to be released under the deal.”

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He added: “I went through the names one by one. It’s a tough, long, and unbearably bloody list.”

He pointed out that the list includes the names of detainees who carried out shootings targeting cars, buses, restaurants, soldiers, and settlers, causing the deaths of many Israelis.

This is not the most difficult list for Israelis, as the next list for the second phase is expected to be extremely challenging. It may include high-profile detainees such as Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Hassan Salameh, Ibrahim Hamed, and others.

However, the current list includes names whose release is expected to cause an uproar in Israel, including:

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• Mohammed Abu Wardeh, born in 1976 in Al-Fawar camp in the southern West Bank, considered by Israel as one of the most dangerous prisoners. He has been sentenced to 48 life terms for allegedly being responsible for the deaths of 45 Israelis and injuries to 100 others. A member of Hamas, he has been imprisoned since 2002.
• Wael Qassem, 54 years old, from Silwan in East Jerusalem, known as the “leader of the Silwan squad” affiliated with Hamas, responsible for attacks that killed 35 Israelis.
• Ahmed Barghouti, close to Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to 13 life terms for leading a cell that killed 12 Israelis, including some in Tel Aviv.

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• Majdi Zaatari, 45 years old, a resident of Wadi al-Joz neighborhood in East Jerusalem, arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 23 life terms plus 50 years, affiliated with Fatah.
• Ibrahim Sarhanah, 53 years old, a resident of East Jerusalem, serving a life sentence for killing Israelis.
• Nael Barghouti, 68 years old, the oldest Palestinian prisoner, serving a life sentence for killing an Israeli.
• Mohammed Abu Sinina, born in 1987 and a resident of East Jerusalem, serving two life terms plus 40 years for killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring others.
• Ahmed Obaid, serving seven life sentences for assisting a shooter in carrying out an attack at Hillel Cafe in West Jerusalem in 2003.

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• Bilal Abu Ghanem, serving three life sentences for an attack that killed Aviv Haim, Alon Goberg, and Richard Lakin on a bus route in West Jerusalem.
• Zakaria Zubeidi, from Jenin camp and a Fatah leader, arrested in 2019 for involvement in several shootings. He escaped from Gilboa Prison in September 2021 with five other Islamic Jihad detainees. Recaptured after five days, he was sentenced to five years in prison.
• Sami Jaradat, involved in the Maxim restaurant attack in Haifa in 2003, which killed 21 Israelis.
• Ali Safouri, a member of Islamic Jihad, responsible for killing 9 Israelis and injuring over 100 others in a series of attacks.

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• Omar Zaben, accused of numerous attacks that killed 27 Israelis. Sentenced to 27 life terms.
• Thabit Mardawi, a leader of Islamic Jihad, involved in attacks during the Second Intifada that killed 21 Israelis and injured about 200 others.
• Mahmoud Shrita, responsible for a bus attack in Tel Aviv in 2002 that killed six people. Sentenced to seven life terms.
• Noor Jaber, serving 17 life terms for an attack on settlers in Hebron in 2002 that killed 12 Israelis, and another attack in the “Atniel” settlement the same year that killed four settlers

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