RELEASED RUTHLESS MURDERERS GREETED AS HEROES IN THE WEST BANK

Israel frees 183 Palestinian prisoners, including 18 terrorists serving life terms

Crowds in Ramallah greet those freed to West Bank; among those released is key planner of 2004 suicide bombing in Beersheba in which 16 Israelis were killed

 

The Times of Israel

Feb 8, 2025

 

A former Palestinian prisoner released by Israel is cheered by a crowd after stepping out of a bus in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 8, 2025.

Israel on Saturday freed 183 Palestinian prisoners, including some serving life sentences for terrorism, following the release of three hostages from Hamas captivity as part of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal.

Of the prisoners released, 18 were serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

Those released included 111 Palestinians captured by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip throughout the war, while the remaining 72 prisoners were arrested before the Hamas invasion and slaughter in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Of the latter group, 42 are from the West Bank, 3 from East Jerusalem and 27 from Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees’ Affairs.

Those being released to the West Bank departed from Ofer Prison soon after the Israeli hostages were released from Gaza. The ex-prisoners were greeted by exultant crowds waving Palestinian flags as they arrived by bus to a Ramallah community center.

Another group was escorted by Israeli prison guards to Gaza, after leaving Keziot Prison in the Negev.

 

Palestinian prisoners are greeted as they exit a Red Cross bus after being released from Israeli prison, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, February 8, 2025.

Among the most notorious terrorists released was Iyad Abu Shkeidem, 49, a Hebron resident at the helm of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in the southern West Bank.

He received 18 life sentences for his key role in planning a 2004 suicide bombing in Beersheba which killed 16 Israelis and injured over 100 others

Hatem al-Jayousi, a 52-year-old Tulkarem resident who founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, was also released Saturday. Arrested in 2003, al-Jayousi was serving six life sentences for murdering six Israelis during the Second Intifada.

Shadi Barghouti, 47, was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in terror attacks against Israelis. He is the son of Fakhri Barghouti, a convicted terrorist who was freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

Senior Hamas official Jamal Taweel, 61, was also released. Taweel formerly served as the mayor of Al-Bireh and is known for his key role in reviving Hamas in the West Bank.

In a statement made upon his arrest in 2021, the IDF said Taweel “took an active part in organizing disturbances, inciting violence, and re-establishing the Hamas headquarters in Ramallah.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said six of the 42 released in the West Bank were in poor health and taken to hospitals. Some prisoners complained of ill-treatment, Reuters reported.

The two prisoners freed to Jerusalem, Issam and Mohammad Attoun, both 20 years old, were arrested for throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at a combined public safety facility in the Sur Baher neighborhood, as per a Maariv report from the time.

The two reunited with their parents in the Russian Compound detention center, who were summoned there for a police interrogation ahead of the release.

 

Israeli security forces guard at Ofer Prison, from where Palestinian terror convicts will be released from as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, February 8, 2025. 

 

The third Jerusalemite prisoner, 58-year-old Ahmad al-Jaafari, is slated for deportation. Seven prisoners in total will be deported, likely due to their leadership potential or technical expertise in building weapons and explosives.

The IDF said later Saturday that troops were operating in the West Bank to prevent parades and celebrations for the released Palestinian prisoners.

In recent days, the IDF and Shin Bet, made calls to the families of the prisoners being released, warning them against celebrations. The Civil Administration also delivered messages to the Palestinian Authority, the military said.

Soldiers also seized Hamas flags and other objects that would have been used in parades, the IDF added.

Before the prisoners were released, Ynet reported that the Israel Prisons Service screened a three-minute long video for the detainees, depicting the widespread destruction in present-day Gaza as a result of the war started by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.