Who are the Terrorists Whom Israel is Freeing?

[Want even more content from FPM? Sign up for FPM+ to unlock exclusive series, virtual town-halls with our authors, and more—now for just $3.99/month. Click here to sign up.]

Israel has committed itself to freeing 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including many who are serving life sentences for multiple murders. And for these 1,900, Israel is getting back a mere handful of hostages — likely no more than fifty remain alive of the 98 hostages Hamas supposedly still holds — all of them innocents. Perhaps you’d like to see what 80 of those prisoners are guilty of, to begin to appreciate the danger inherent in this grotesquely lopsided exchange. How many of these terrorists will use their freedom to murder again? 82% of the 1,027 Palestinians who were freed in order to obtain the release of one soldier, Gilad Shalit, in 2011, went right back to murdering Israelis. More on these arch-criminals — their names, their crimes, their victims — can be found here: “The names and crimes of 80 dangerous terrorist murderers being released by Israel,” by Itamar Marcus and Ephraim D. Tepler, Palestinian Media Watch, January 24, 2025:

As Israel celebrates the release of three of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023 and anticipates the release of 30 more over 42 days, every Israeli dreads the consequences of the dangerous price extorted from Israel by Hamas.

Israel has agreed to release over 1,900 terrorists, including many murderers, such as Wael Qassem, who is serving 35 life sentences.

General Security Service Director Ronen Bar told Israel’s security cabinet last week that 82% of the 1,024 terrorists released in exchange for Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit in 2011 “returned to terrorism.” The leaders of Hamas who planned and led the October 7 massacre were released terrorist prisoners. Thousands of Israelis have been murdered as a direct result of previous terrorist-hostage exchanges.

To display the nature of the danger, Palestinian Media Watch has prepared a list of the names of 80 of the terrorist murderers to be released with descriptions of some of their crimes.

Note that among those being released are terror commanders who planned and organized murders by suicide bombing, shooting, and stabbing; bomb builders; and terrorists who murdered with their own hands by stabbing and shooting. As in the past, the majority of those being released now will return to their former positions and be the leaders and foundation of Palestinian terrorism for years to come.

Wael Qassem – Serving 35 life sentences. Led a cell responsible for three suicide bombing attacks in 2002—Café Moment, the Hebrew University cafeteria, and the Sheffield Club, murdering 35 in total.

Ammar Al-Ziben – Serving 32 life sentences. Hamas. Planned several suicide bombings, including the double suicide bombing at the Mahane Yehuda outdoor market in 1997, murdering 16.

Majdi Za’atri – Serving 23 life sentences. Hamas. Planned and assisted a suicide bombing in 2003—drove a suicide bomber to a bus stop in Jerusalem where the bomber boarded the #2 bus and blew himself up, murdering 23, including children and babies.

Ahmad Salah – Serving 21 life sentences. Involved in two Jerusalem suicide bus bombings in 2004, murdering 19 people and injuring over 100.

Sami Jaradat – Serving 21 life sentences. Head of Islamic Jihad in the Jenin district. Planned several attacks, including the 2003 suicide bombing at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa where 21 people were murdered and over 50 were injured.

Fahmi Mashahreh – Serving 20 life sentences. Aided and instructed suicide bomber Muhammad Al-Ghoul, who murdered 19 and wounded 74 on a Jerusalem bus in 2002.

Shadi Ibrahim Ammouri – Serving 17 life sentences. Islamic Jihad. Prepared the bomb for the 2002 Megiddo Junction bombing in which 17 were murdered and 43 were wounded on the #830 bus from Tel Aviv to Tiberias.

Salim Hijja – Serving 16 life sentences. Assisted a suicide bomber in blowing up a bus in Haifa in 2001, murdering 15 and injuring 40.

Mansour Shreim – Serving 14 life sentences. Participated in the murder of an Israeli soldier near Kibbutz Metzer in 2001. Sent terrorists to carry out attacks, including an attack at a Bat Mitzvah celebration in Hadera in 2002, where 6 were murdered and over 30 were injured, and an attack in the town of Itamar in 2002, where 3 teenagers were murdered.

Muhammad Naifeh ‘Abu Rabia’ – Serving 13 life sentences. Tanzim. Involved in the murder of 5 Israelis at Kibbutz Metzer in 2002, 3 Israelis in Hermesh in 2002, and 5 others in various shooting attacks in 2001.

Ahmed Barghouti – Serving 13 life sentences. Commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the Ramallah region. Dispatched terrorists to lethal attacks in 2002. Sent terrorists to shooting attacks in which 12 people were murdered.

Ahmed Abu Khader – Serving 11 life sentences. Palestinian terrorist and former member of the PA Security Forces, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and Tanzim. Trained terrorists for suicide missions, carried out shooting attacks, and transported terrorists who committed lethal attacks.

Mar’i Abu Sa’ida – Serving 11 life sentences. Hamas. Member of cell responsible for several terror attacks, including a suicide bombing at the Tzrifin bus stop (9 murdered, 14 wounded, 2003), a suicide bombing at Café Hillel in Jerusalem (7 murdered, over 50 wounded, 2003) and a bombing at a bus stop in Tel Aviv (1 murdered, 24 wounded, 2004).

Izz Al-Din Khaled Hamamrah – Serving 9 life sentences. Tanzim. Recruited suicide bomber Muhammad Za’oul, who blew up the #14 bus in Jerusalem in 2004, murdering 8 and injuring dozens. Also perpetrated shooting attacks in the Bethlehem area.

Osama Al-Ashqar – Serving 8 life sentences. Tanzim. Organized two attacks resulting in the deaths of 8 Israelis in 2002 besides carrying out dozens of shooting attacks in the Tulkarem area.

Samer Al-Atrash – Serving 8 life sentences. Assisted a suicide bomber in blowing up a bus in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2003, murdering 7.

Ahmad Obeid – Serving 7 life sentences. Hamas member from East Jerusalem. Together with Nael Obeid, he planned the Café Hillel suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003, where 7 people were murdered, and he brought the terrorist to the attack site.

Taleb Ali Taleb Amr – Serving 7 life sentences. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Provided the explosives to a suicide bomber who murdered 6 and wounded more than 80 at Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda outdoor market in 2002….

Had enough? There is much, much more here. Do you think this swap was a colossal error? Or do you think that, whatever it cost to free the hostages, Israel had to pay the price? Why couldn’t the Israelis have struck a better deal than this, one which would have exempted from release all those prisoners who were convicted of murder? Israel is so good at winning wars. Why is it so inept at negotiating what comes after?