The transfers, confirmed by the Israel Prison Service on Sunday, mark the opening phase of a deal forged last week in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey and proposed by US President Donald Trump, the agreement outlines a 20-point framework linking a gradual truce in Gaza to a prisoner exchange.
Under the deal, Israel will release about 250 Palestinians serving life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from Gaza captured after 7 October 2023.
In return, Hamas will release 47 Israeli captives, both living and deceased, before the international summit co-chaired by Trump and Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday.
According to Israeli media, prisoners have been relocated from five facilities to the Ketziot and Ofer prisons. Those to be transferred to Gaza or abroad through Rafah are being held at Ketziot, while those bound for the occupied West Bank are at Ofer.
However, the final list has proven contentious.
Israeli outlets reported that the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) objected to nearly 100 proposed releases and blocked 25 senior figures it labeled an ongoing “security threat.”
Those excluded include Marwan Barghouti, the imprisoned Fatah leader long viewed as a possible successor to Mahmoud Abbas; Ahmad Saadat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); and veteran Hamas commander Hassan Salameh.
Their exclusion underscores Israel’s long-standing refusal to release prisoners seen as symbols of the armed resistance, a stance that has repeatedly stalled exchange efforts since the start of the genocidal war.
Still, for the families of those who remain on the list, men who have spent two or even three decades behind bars, the moment carries immense emotional weight. Their photographs have long hung in living rooms and classrooms; their names have been chanted at marches and painted into murals.
Many entered prison before the collapse of the Oslo Accords or the birth of their own children. Now, their return offers a rare moment of hope in a landscape marked by siege and loss.
Below are profiles of some of the most prominent Palestinian lifers expected to be released soon.
Mahmoud Issa (Abu Al-Barāʾ) – Jerusalem / Hamas
Imprisoned since 1993, Mahmoud Issa is one of Hamas’ longest-held detainees and the longest-imprisoned Palestinian from Jerusalem. Accused of commanding the first Qassam Brigades cell in the city and of leading the 1994 capture of Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman to secure the release of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, he received three life sentences plus 46 years.
He spent 13 years in near-total solitary confinement, during which he became a teacher, writer, and mentor to younger inmates. Israeli authorities repeatedly blocked his inclusion in earlier exchange deals due to his symbolic status.
Kamil Abu Hanish – Nablus / PFLP
A political theorist and novelist, Abu Hanish was captured in 2003 after two years on Israel’s most-wanted list. The former head of the PFLP’s armed wing in the northern West Bank is serving nine life sentences.
Born in 1975 in Beit Dajan, he joined the PFLP in his teens and later earned degrees in economics and political science, the latter from prison.
From his cell, he has written 15 books, including The Capsule and The Seventh Direction, and is widely regarded as one of the intellectual anchors of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
Mohammad Abu Tabeikh (Abu Usama) – Jenin / Islamic Jihad
Arrested in 2002 after 100 days of interrogation, Abu Tabeikh was sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years for his role in the Megiddo junction bombing that killed 17 Israelis.
Over 23 years in prison, he earned degrees in political science, economics, and history, mastered Hebrew and English, and co-authored Path of the Truthful, a 700-page collection of prisoners’ testimonies published later in Gaza.
He is seen as a chronicler of Islamic Jihad’s history.
Ayyhem Fouad Kammamji – Jenin / Islamic Jihad
Kammamji, 39, has spent nearly 20 years in prison. Arrested in 2006 and sentenced to two life terms, he was accused of involvement in the abduction and killing of an Israeli settler.
In 2021, he became known globally as one of six men who escaped Israel’s maximum-security Gilboa Prison through a hand-dug tunnel in the “Freedom Tunnel” operation. Recaptured two weeks later, he received an additional five-year sentence.
A Quran memorizer and university graduate, Kammamji lost his mother in 2019 while barred from visiting her; his brother was killed by Israeli troops in 2022. He earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees while in prison.
Iyad Mohammad Abu Al-Rub – Jalboun, Jenin / Islamic Jihad
Head of Islamic Jihad’s military wing in Jenin, Abu Al-Rub has been in prison for 20 years, serving eight life sentences.
Arrested in 2005, he was convicted of organizing several attacks, including the 2005 Hadera Market bombing that killed six Israelis.
Israel demolished his family home during his capture. From prison, he completed a degree in Islamic law and coordinated religious education programmes for other inmates.
Baher Badr – Ramallah / Hamas
Detained since 2004, Badr was a Qassam Brigades member accused by Israel of organizing several bombings, including the Tsrifin bus station attack that killed 18 Israelis.
He received 12 life sentences plus additional years. Born in 1980, he has spent nearly half his life behind Israeli bars.
Riyad Talal Al-Amour – Taamra, Bethlehem / Fatah
A senior commander in Fatah’s Tanzim organization, Al-Amour was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 11 life terms. Israel accused him of killing nine Israelis and three Palestinians suspected of collaboration.
Now 52, he suffers from heart disease and partial hearing loss after years of interrogation and inadequate medical care.
His father says a bullet remains lodged in his neck, which Israeli doctors have refused to remove. Al-Amour spent years in the Ramla prison hospital and was often denied family visits.
Taleb Makhmara – Yatta, Hebron / Fatah
Arrested in 2002 after months on the run, Makhmara was accused of leading a Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade cell that killed five settlers. He is serving seven life terms.
He gained attention in 2019 when he performed a self-taught surgical procedure on his injured nephew, fellow prisoner Khaled Makhmara, using makeshift tools inside Nafha Prison after years of denied medical treatment.
Mohammad Imran – Hebron / Islamic Jihad
Imprisoned since 2002 and sentenced to 13 life terms, Imran was a senior member of Saraya Al-Quds, accused of participating in an ambush on the Worshippers’ Route that killed 12 Israelis.
His mother died two years into his sentence, and the Israeli prison service has banned all family visits. He is currently held in Ramon Prison.
Firas Sadeq Ghanem – Jerusalem / Fatah
Born in 1974, Ghanem emerged during the Second Intifada as a commander in Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Convicted of carrying out attacks that killed eight Israelis, he received nine life sentences plus 50 years. From his East Jerusalem neighbourhood, he became a prominent figure in the uprising and carried out operations inside Israel.
The "lifers" release is expected to take place under tight Israeli restrictions. In towns across the occupied West Bank, troops have warned families not to hang flags or hold public celebrations, a familiar pattern during previous exchanges. However, anticipation is growing.
For many Palestinians, the return of the lifers is not merely a humanitarian gesture or political concession, but the homecoming of men who, in their absence, came to embody an entire generation’s resilience.
Their freedom, though secured through a ceasefire brokered abroad, remains tied to the unfinished struggle of their people.
Short link: