October 13, 2025
On October 10, Israel published the names of 250 Palestinian security prisoners slated for release under the U.S.-backed hostage release and Gaza ceasefire and deal, notifying families of those whose killers will be freed. Approved by the Israeli cabinet, the list includes members of the terrorist groups Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah, and the PFLP, all responsible for deadly attacks, while key figures demanded by Hamas—like Marwan Barghouti, mastermind of the Second Intifada—remain in Israeli custody.
The releases mark the first phase of the U.S.-brokered 20-Point Peace Plan, under which Israel is freeing more than 1,950 Palestinian prisoners—including 250 serving life sentences—to secure the return of 48 hostages from Gaza, 20 of whom survived captivity in the coastal enclave and were returned to Israel on October 13.
While most of the world has welcomed the peace plan, including AJC, it is important to make a clear distinction between the groups of people being exchanged. Unfortunately, major media outlets like The New York Times have created a false equivalency between the hostages held by terrorists in Gaza and the individuals imprisoned by Israel for serious crimes. For example, a front-page article in The Times on October 13 misleadingly described the swap as an “exchange of hostages.” Here is what you need to know about this topic and why comparisons like the Times’ are false and amount to a great injustice:
- Why there is no moral equivalency between the hostages taken by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners
There is a clear distinction: The Palestinians held in Israeli jails made an active choice to commit a crime, while the only “crime” committed by the Israeli and other foreign hostages was that they were Jewish or were in Israel.
As part of the latest deal brokered between Israel and Hamas, 48 hostages, including 20 living ones, were released on October 13. The Israelis and foreign nationals now being released include people who were stolen from their homes, kidnapped while celebrating at a music festival, studying abroad, or courageously defending their families and neighbors from Hamas’s brutal terror rampage on October 7.
Gali and Ziv Berman, 28, twin brothers, were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza with their neighbor, Emily Damari. Ziv was held with Emily for 40 days before they were separated. She was released in January 2025 during the last ceasefire.
Avinatan Or, 32, was kidnapped with his girlfriend Noa Argamani, who was freed in an IDF rescue mission in June 2024; his family received proof he was alive in March 2025. Avinatan lost approximately 30-40 percent of his body weight during captivity and was held in near complete isolation in a tunnel in central Gaza, according to reports.
Bipin Joshi, 24, was a Nepalese agriculture student taken from Kibbutz Alumim; footage confirmed his captivity in November 2023, but Hamas later listed him among the hostages killed and returned to Israel on October 13.
Those are just a few of the many hostages taken captive by Hamas terrorists.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian prisoners who were released by Israel were convicted of bus bombings, stabbing attacks, aiding and inciting murder, attempted murder, and planning suicide bombings. A number of Palestinian prisoners belong to internationally designated terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Below are a few examples.
- Hilmi Abdul Karim Muhammad Hammash — Coordinated a 2004 suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed 11 people and injured 50 others.
- Morad Bader Abdullah Adais — In 2016, stabbed to death Dafna Meir, a 38-year-old mother of six, at the entrance of her home in Otniel, in front of her teenage daughter.
- Jihad A-Karim Azziz Rom — Took part in the 2000 Ramallah lynching, in which two Israeli reservists, Vadim Norzich and Yosef Avrahami, were brutally beaten and stabbed to death by a mob after mistakenly entering the city. Rom also participated in the 2001 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Yuri Gushchin.
- What crimes did some of these Palestinian prisoners commit?
While some of the Palestinians released from Israeli prisons were incarcerated for minor crimes, some have been involved in violent crimes and bloody terrorist attacks.
As part of the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas peace deal, Israel is set to release 250 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were convicted of deadly terror attacks over the past two decades.
Among the most notorious slated for release are:
- Mahmoud Qawasmeh, a senior Hamas operative previously involved in the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers;
- Imad Qawasmeh, who orchestrated a double suicide bombing in Beersheba in 2004 that killed 16 Israelis, and
- Iyad Abu al-Rub, an Islamic Jihad commander responsible for multiple suicide bombings across Israel between 2003 and 2005.
Other prisoners include members of Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all convicted of attacks that claimed dozens of lives.
- Why are the numbers so disproportionate?
What do Israelis value above all else? Life. For this reason alone, Israel has a long-standing policy of doing whatever it takes to secure the safe release of hostages kidnapped by terrorists. And that is why, in exchange for the innocent hostages taken on October 7, so many more Palestinian prisoners have been released despite the blood on their hands. As part of the agreement, for every living Israeli hostage released, 100 Palestinian prisoners were released.
The reunion of these hostages with their families is a priority for a nation that has seen so many lives lost in terrorist attacks and war since it declared independence in 1948.
For example, in 2011, after more than five years of negotiating, Israel secured the release of Corp. Gilad Shalit, the first soldier to be released alive by anti-Israel terrorists in more than a quarter century. Israel swapped more than 1,000 prisoners for his return.
