Palestinians serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis were among 110 prisoners who were freed on Thursday during a tense hostage swap in the second week of the cease-fire between the Jewish state and Hamas.
High-profile terrorists and other convicts received a hero’s welcome from hundreds of Palestinians waving flags and holding signs as they were bussed back to the West Bank community center in Ramallah.
The prisoners released were all men, ranging in age from 15 to 69, with nearly two dozen serving life sentences for more egregious crimes transferred to Egypt before further deportation.
These are some of the worst of the worst released since the cease-fire deal went into effect on Jan. 19:
Zakaria Zubeidi
Zakaria Zubeidi, a high-profile terrorist commander and theater director, notoriously busted out of an Israeli prison in 2021 and is hailed as a Palestinian icon.
Zubeidi led the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, an armed group affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority. Under his command, the militants carried out dozens of deadly attacks against Israelis between 2000 and 2005, during a time known as the Second Intifada.
When the uprising ended in 2006, Zubeidi started The Freedom Theater in his hometown of Jenin in the West Bank in order to promote what he described as cultural resistance against Israel.
He was locked up for years in Israeli prison for the early 2000s terrorist attacks, but after being freed, was arrested again in 2019 and charged in connection with several shootings targeting buses taking Israeli settlers into the West Bank.
He was awaiting trial when he and five other prisoners infamously tunneled their way out of the Gilboa maximum security prison in Northern Israel – a stunt that established him as a Palestinian folk hero despite being caught days later.
Mohammed Abu Warda
Hamas militant Mohammed Abu Ward was serving 48 life sentences – one of the longest ever issued – for orchestrating multiple suicide bombings and terror attacks in bustling cities that killed dozens of Israelis and wounded hundreds, including a 1996 bus bombing in Jerusalem.
After joining the militant group in 1996 as a student, Palestinian authorities said at the time that Warda was instrumental in recruiting suicide bombers – including his cousin, his cousin’s neighbor and a classmate at the Ramallah Teachers College.
He was captured in 2002 and released on Thursday.
Mohammed Ardeh
Mohammed Aradeh, an activist in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was serving a life sentence for offenses dating back to the Second Intifada that included planting an explosive device and attempted murder, according to the Israeli Prison Service.
Ardeh masterminded the audacious 2021 jailbreak from the maximum security facility with five other detainees, including Zubeidi, who used spoons to tunnel their way to short-lived freedom.
He was released on Saturday as family, friends and fans chanted, “The freedom tunnel!”
Ahmed Barghouti
Ahmed Barghouti, a senior Fatah military official, was convicted of 13 life sentences for executing multiple terror attacks during the Second Intifada that killed 12 Israelis, according to the Times of Israel.
Barghouti is among the prisoners exiled to Egypt.
Mohammed al-Tous
Mohammed al-Tous, a member of the Fatah movement, was the longest continuous Palestinian prisoner serving time in Israeli detention until he was freed during the first round of the hostage exchange, according to Palestinian authorities.
He was arrested in 1985 for murder while fighting Israeli forces along the Jordanian border. Al-Tous is among the detainees banished to Egypt.
With Post wires
