Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said on Thursday that Israel would not include Palestinian Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in the prisoner exchange agreement reached with Hamas in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
“I can assure you at this stage that he will not be part of this release deal,” Bedrosian told reporters.
Israel’s public broadcaster quoted a senior Shin Bet (internal security agency) official as saying, “We reviewed every name of a Palestinian prisoner to be released and understand the price we are paying.”
More than 11,100 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, where, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, detainees face torture, starvation, and medical neglect—conditions that have led to numerous deaths in custody.
Earlier, Hamas stated that the lists of Palestinian prisoners to be released had been submitted to Israel via the mediators based on previously agreed-upon criteria and numbers.
“We are awaiting final approval of the names in preparation for announcing them to our people through the Prisoners’ Information Office once all related procedures and understandings are completed,” said the head of Hamas’s Office for Martyrs and Prisoners, Zaher Jabarin.
Jabarin reaffirmed the Palestinian resistance group’s commitment to the prisoners’ cause, stating, “Hamas renews its pledge to our brave prisoners and their families that they will remain at the core of our priorities, and we will not rest until the last prisoner enjoys freedom.”
According to various reports, the ceasefire deal stipulates that Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners who are serving long sentences and 1,700 Palestinians who were arrested since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
With the start of the internationally mediated talks in Egypt on Monday, four high-profile Palestinian prisoners emerged as top names Hamas is demanding in any exchange, citing their political and symbolic significance, according to the Palestine Chronicle.
A Palestinian source close to the talks said the list includes Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure, and Ahmed Saadat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Both men are serving long sentences.
Barghouti, imprisoned for over two decades, is seen by many Palestinians as a unifying national figure.
A senior leader in the Fatah movement, he played a major role in both the First Intifada of 1987 and the Second Intifada of 2000. Over the years, he has faced multiple arrests, deportations, and assassination attempts, and is currently serving five life sentences in Israeli prisons.
The second figure on the list is Ahmed Saadat, accused by Israel of masterminding the 2001 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi. After being detained by the Palestinian Authority, he was seized by Israeli forces in 2006 following the withdrawal of British and American observers from Jericho prison and sentenced to 30 years.
Hamas is also calling for the release of Ibrahim Hamed, former operations commander of the Qassam Brigades in the West Bank during the Second Intifada, who was arrested in Ramallah in 2006 and sentenced to 54 life terms for attacks in Jerusalem, including one at the Hebrew University.
The fourth name is Abbas al-Sayyed, a senior Hamas figure from Tulkarm, convicted of planning the 2002 Park Hotel bombing in Netanya. He is serving 35 life sentences and has been excluded from previous exchange deals.
Moreover, Israeli Army Radio quoted a security source as saying that the bodies of Yahya and Mohamed Sinwar will not be handed over as part of the deal.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a legendary battle against Israeli troops in October 2024. His younger brother, Mohamed, was also killed in an Israeli airstrike in August 2025.
A Hamas spokesperson has warned that Israel is attempting to change key elements of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including the timing, prisoner lists, and the return of displaced people, while continuing to delay its commitments, such as withdrawal and detainee releases.
“We call on mediators to pressure the occupation to adhere to what was agreed,” the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.
“The agreement, as we understand from mediators, is a beginning to ending the genocidal war on Gaza.”
The spokesperson emphasised that Hamas is prepared to implement the first phase of the agreement and is “exerting every effort to make the agreement succeed and end the war.”
Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups are set to start releasing Israeli captives who are alive on Monday.
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