This picture shows the Ofer military prison complex, located between Ramallah and Beitunia in the occupied West Bank, before releasing Palestinian prisoners as part of a captive-prisoner exchange. AFP
Of the prisoners, 18 are serving life sentences, 54 have long-term sentences, and 111 are Palestinians from Gaza who were detained after the Israeli war on Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. All are men, ranging in age from 20 to 61.
Under the terms of the ongoing six-week truce, Israel agreed to release around 1,000 Gazan detainees on the condition that they were not involved in the Hamas 7 October offensive.
Among the most prominent prisoners set to be released is Iyad Abu Shakhdam, 49, who has been imprisoned for nearly 21 years over his involvement in Hamas operations against Israel in the early 2000s. He is serving 18 life sentences.
Another is Jamal al-Tawil, 61, a Hamas politician and former mayor of the West Bank city of Al-Bireh who has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli prison. Since his most-recent arrest in 2021, he's been held in Israeli administrative detention without trial for allegedly organizing violent riots.
Both will be released Saturday into the occupied West Bank.
That exchange will be the fifth in a multiphase ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to last month. The deal calls on Hamas to free at least 33 of the 97 remaining capitves over the first six weeks in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a permanent halt to the Israeli war on the Gaza.
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