Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?

Ramallah, West Bank (AP) – Issue Four female Israeli soldiers With the capture of Hamas on Saturday came a great price for Israel.

Israel is freed 200 Palestinian prisoners120 of them were serving life sentences, from his prisons as parts ceasefire agreement. They ranged in age from 16 to 67 years old.

Some were fired to the stormy west coastwhile those whose offenses were considered too serious were transferred to Egypt.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, dozens of freed Palestinians, who appear to be wearing fake gray Israeli prison overalls, are disembarked from a white Red Cross bus on Saturday. They launched themselves into the cheerful crowd.

The images deepen the trauma for Israelis whose loved ones have been killed by some of those released.

Moshe Har Melech, whose son was killed in a 2003 Palestinian shooting attack, said he was troubled by released prisoners being seen as “superheroes” and warned that even exile was not a deterrent.

“They will continue to remotely recruit and install terrorist cells,” he said. “This time they will be more experienced.”

Adrenalized Palestinian teenagers, some of whom had previously shared prison cells with those released, shared their confusion on social media. Doctors conducted tests on prisoners, who spoke about the harsh conditions and frequent beatings in an Israeli prison. Mothers and sons cried as they hugged each other for the first time in years.

“It cannot be described. Being between your mother and father is an indescribable feeling,” said Azmi Nafaa, who was accused of trying to escape and enter Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in 2015 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released nine years later.

His mother, Hadiya Hamdan, said she would cook meat dumplings in yogurt sauce. Nafaa suggested trying the more sophisticated “Mansaf,” a Bedouin dish of lamb and rice served at Palestinian weddings and celebrations.

“But it may be difficult for you,” he said.

She looked at him and smiled. “No,” she answered: “Nothing will be difficult.”

There was no such welcome for the 70 exiled prisoners whose convoy broke south and slipped quietly through the Gaza border crossing into Egypt.

Underscoring the challenges for Israel, the home of prisoners in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, revealed an outpouring of support for the rival group Hamas. Many young Palestinians waved green Hamas flags and called on the militant group to capture more Israelis to free all prisoners.

Here’s a look at the more famous Palestinian prisoners released on Saturday.

Muhammed Arade, 42

An activist in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Arade, was sentenced to life in prison for a series of offenses dating back to the second intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation, in the early 2000s. Some of the charges, according to the Israeli prison, included planting an explosive device and attempted murder.

He was interrupted extreme prison escape in 2021when he and five other detainees used spoons to tunnel out of one of Israel’s most secure prisons. They remained at large for days before they were caught.

From an impoverished and politically active family Jenin, in the northern occupied West BankArad has three brothers and a sister who spent years in an Israeli prison.

He was greeted as a sort of cult hero in Ramallah on Saturday, as family, friends and supporters carried him away chanting “Tunnel of Freedom!” Referring to his prison. Arade was out of breath when asked how he was feeling.

Again and again he muttered: “Thank God, thank God.”

Muhammed Odeh, 52, Wael Kassim, 54, and Wissam Abbas, 48

All three men hail from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan and rose through the ranks of Hamas. Responsible for a number of deadly attacks during the second intifada, the men were sentenced to several life sentences in an Israeli prison in 2002.

They were accused of being part of a suicide bombing at a crowded pool hall near Tel Aviv in 2002 that killed 15 people. Later that year, they were found to have orchestrated a bombing at a Hebrew university that killed nine people, including five American students. Israel described Ode, who was working as an artist at the university at the time, as a king on the attack.

All three were among those transferred to Egypt. Their families live in Jerusalem.

Brothers Abu Hamid

Three brothers from the prominent Al-Hamid family of the Al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah Nasser, 51, Mohammed, 44, and Sharif, 48, were deported together on Saturday. They were sentenced to life in prison for deadly militant attacks on Israelis in 2002.

Their brother, another Nasser Abu Hamid, was one of the founders of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed militia linked to Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority.

He was also sentenced to life in prison for several fatal attacks. His death from lung cancer in 2022 behind bars unleashed a a wave of angry protests Across the West Bank, Palestinian officials have accused Israel of medical negligence.

The family has a long arc of Palestinian militancy. The mother, Latifah Abu Hamid, 72, now has three sons, one still incarcerated, one who died in prison, and one who was killed by Israeli forces. Their family home has been demolished at least three times by Israel, which defends it punitive home demolitions as a deterrent against future attacks.

Mohammed al-Tuz, 67

Al-Touz held the title of the longest continuous Israeli prison sentence before his release on Saturday, the Palestinian Authority said.

First arrested in 1985 during a crackdown by Israeli forces along the Jordan, the Fatah party activist spent 39 years behind bars. Originally from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, he was among the prisoners sent to Egypt.