Families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are eagerly awaiting their release following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that will liberate hundreds of detainees.
Under the deal reached on Wednesday, 33 of approximately 100 Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza are set to be freed over the next six weeks.
According to a copy of the agreement seen by the Guardian, nine ill and wounded Israelis will be released in exchange for 110 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli jails. Men over 50 on the list of 33 hostages will be released in return for prisoners serving life sentences at a ratio of 1:3, and 1:27 for other sentences.
Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, two mentally ill Israeli men who entered Gaza a decade ago and have been held hostage by Hamas ever since, will be released at a ratio of 1:30. Another 47 prisoners rearrested after being freed as part of a 2011 deal that brought home Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will also be freed.
One thousand Palestinians arrested by Israeli troops in Gaza after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 who did not take part in the offensive will be released, and some of the freed Palestinians from the West Bank will be sent to third countries rather than be allowed to return home.
Mervat Moadi, 53, from the village of Jifna, north of Ramallah, was waiting anxiously for the official list of Palestinian prisoners to be released. Her husband, Marwan, 64, was jailed in 2012 for allegedly participating in an infamous incident in the second intifada in which two army reservists who got lostwere lynched by a crowd at police station in Ramallah in 2000. He denies any wrongdoing, saying he was present in a crowd of funeral mourners.
Marwan, was charged and sentenced to eight years in prison, and his conviction was extended on appeal to 22 years. The couple have three sons, and grandchildren the man has never met.
“The last time I visited him was in July 2023, and after that we were unable to see him during the war,” Mervat said. ‘‘I am very nervous. My heart tells me that I will see him. Every hour that passes feels like a year. Waiting is very difficult for the family. We, as wives of prisoners, whether Palestinian or Israeli, suffer every moment. We do not know when we will see our loved ones.’’
‘‘The moment of waiting and anticipation is a deadly one,” she said.
While Israel suggested on Thursday that some details of the deal are yet to be agreed upon, dozens of Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released as early as Sunday in the first phase of the agreement’s implementation.
Among those scheduled for release are both men and women held under the controversial practice of administrative detention, which allows for the pre-emptive arrest of individuals based on undisclosed evidence, with prison terms of up to six months without formal charges or trial, which can be renewed an infinite number of times.
An unconfirmed version of the Israeli list of prisoners for release includes some individuals convicted of lesser offences under Israeli law, such as allegedly espousing support for Hamas on social media or displaying a Palestinian flag. Others on the list are serving life sentences for involvement inviolent crimes such as suicide attacks or the murder of Israeli citizens. Israeli media reported that the people from the West Bank serving life sentences would be deported to Turkey, Algeria and Qatar, rather than be allowed to return home.
Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Ghulous, 66, is the father of Ahmed Abu Ghulous, who was arrested over the 2004 murder of an Israeli in a Jerusalem settlement , in an attack claimed by Hamas.
“My son was 18 years old at the time; he has been in prison for 21 years’’, his father said. “Every time there is a deal or prisoner exchange, I hoped for his release. But this time, I am confident and optimistic that the deal will happen, because Trump is the one who is working on it to make it happen
“We are living on our nerves – we can’t sleep or concentrate. Every hour and minute we follow the news,” he said.
According to figures published by Israeli NGO HaMoked, as of January 2025, there were 10,221 Palestinians in Israeli prison. About 3,376 of them are held under administrative detention, while 1,886 are classified as “unlawful combatants,” which also allows detention without charge or trial. The Israel Defense Forces and Israeli government say the measure comply with international law.
Palestinians have long alleged that imprisonment is a key element of Israel’s 57-year-old occupation: various estimates suggest that up to 40% of Palestinian men have been arrested at least once in their lives.
During the first ceasefire, in November 2023, which lasted about a week, 105 hostages held by Hamas were released, while Israel released about 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails.
The Head of the Palestinian National Library and former Minister of Prisoners, Issa Qaraqe, described the expected prisoner exchange as “the largest collective rescue operation of male and female prisoners since 1985, and the most qualitative and quantitative – if the Israeli government does not obstruct it.”
The release of Palestinian prisoners was at the centre of a long stalemate during negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which stalled in July last year before being revived ahead of president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump had threatened to unleash “hell” on Hamas if the hostages were not released before he begins a second term.
During the negotiations Palestinian officials said that Israel continued to block the release of 10 specific prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, the popular leader of Fatah’s armed faction, and Ahmad Saadat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was behind the assassination of the Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001.
To avert a potential impasse in the latest negotiations, it was agreed to defer discussions on the release of the well-known political and armed resistance figures until the second phase of the deal, sources who took part in the negotiations said.
“I hope all the Palestinian prisoners will be released, as well as the Israeli hostages, and get to see their loved ones’’, Abu Ghulous said. “I am a father and I know exactly what it means to live apart from your children. Every human being is valuable to his loved ones.’’
