Shin Bet objects to names on Palestinian prisoner release list

The Israeli site “Walla”, citing sources, said the final list of Palestinian prisoners to be released includes only 195 prisoners serving life sentences.

Israeli media added that the Shin Bet objected to around 100 names and excluded 25 prominent leaders, noting that only 60 of the 195 prisoners to be released are from Hamas.

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the prison service received orders to release security prisoners as part of the exchange deal.

It said the transfer of security prisoners from five prisons to designated release facilities has begun, adding that the exchange deal includes releasing about 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 from Gaza who were arrested after October 7, 2023.

On Friday, Israel published a list of 250 Palestinian prisoners it agreed to release under the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

The list includes members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the Popular Front, but does not include some leaders Hamas has demanded be released, foremost among them Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, Popular Front secretary-general Ahmed Saadat, and Hamas leader Hassan Salameh.

Of the 250 prisoners to be released, 15 will be released to East Jerusalem, 100 to the West Bank, while the remainder will be deported to Gaza or elsewhere, according to the Israeli government decision published on Friday.