As part of the agreement with the terror group Hamas, Israel has released a list of the 300 Palestinian prisoners proposed for release in what media has labelled an “exchange” for the innocents taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th. According to the deal, Israel will release three Palestinian prisoners for every hostage allowed to leave Gaza.
Western media reports have focused on these prisoners being women and children, while, in reality, many of them are affiliated with Hamas and some have carried out violent acts.
Some of these are under the age of 18, or turned 18 while in prison, and have not been convicted of any crime, being labelled instead as “under arrest.” But a good proportion are also said to be affiliated with the Hamas terror group and have committed offences including “throwing a bomb or incendiary,” “creating an explosive,” causing “damage to the security of [an] area,” “attempted murder,” “supporting terrorism,” carrying out “grievous bodily harm [and] arson on nationalist grounds,” “attacking a police officer,” and other “state security offences.”
Eitaf Jaradat, one Palestinian released as part of the exchange, is accused of “involvement in a shooting that caused the death of an Israeli settler,” according to Reuters. Israa Riad Jabes, another woman slated for release, disfigured herself in 2015 in an attempted bombing, making her a “cause célèbre for some Palestinians.”
The story of those taken hostage by Hamas is much more clear-cut. These were among the 240 mostly Israelis taken hostage during the October 7th terror attacks.
Around two dozen Thai nationals were taken hostage—or, as Hamas put it “taken for their own protection”—which rings hollow given that 39 Thai citizens were killed in the terror attacks. At least 17 of those taken hostage have since been released.
One 13-year-old Israeli girl is “so traumatised that when she recalls being held hostage by Hamas terrorists, it’s as if she is speaking about someone else,” according to the New York Post. The paper adds that another, “bloodied and orphaned when her parents were fatally shot in front of her on their Israeli kibbutz [on] October 7th, turned four while kidnapped—and expressed sheer joy at seeing her relatives when freed Monday.”
A mother and her three-year-old twins were released on the fourth day of the truce. Her husband and his brother are believed to still remain in captivity. But the youngest hostage taken by Hamas—just 10 months old—has yet to return home and is unlikely to any time soon since he is understood to have been handed to a separate Palestinian terror group. Reports say that the baby is being used as “leverage.”
There are hopes that more hostages will be released in the coming days after the exchange programme was extended for a further two days. All this while families and loved ones live through severe emotional torture, not knowing whether the ones they care for the most are dead or alive.
The release of Palestinian prisoners was expected to be celebrated by Hamas supporters living in Israel, particularly in East Jerusalem. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir gave instructions to police to shut down any such celebrations, and said such “expressions of joy” were
equivalent to backing terrorism; victory celebrations give backing to those human scum, for those Nazis.
