The longest-serving Palestinian inmate in an Israeli prison, previously released in a hostage exchange and then returned to prison for resuming terrorist activities, is among hundreds of convicted Palestinian terrorists expected to be released in the framework of the recent ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Nael Barghouti, 67, has spent 44 years in detention, more than any other Palestinian prisoner. Incarcerated in 1978 for the assassination of Mordechai Yekuel, an Israeli bus driver, he was released in 2011 after 33 years in prison during a previous exchange. However, he was arrested again three years later for violating the conditions of his release by resuming terrorist activities.
Mordechai Yekuel, 27, a bus driver transporting Palestinian workers to Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, was murdered in his vehicle near Ramallah.
To not miss any of the news,
receive the Daily Headline on your email
By registering, you agree to the terms of use
Barghouti is one of 200 prisoners who will be deported upon their release.
Israel specified that Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis would be permanently expelled under the Gaza ceasefire agreement, and would not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank.
Considered a senior member of the Hamas terrorist group, Barghouti is one of 217 prisoners listed by the Israeli Justice Ministry, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association, to be sent abroad.
His wife, Iman Barghouti, imprisoned for ten years for planning a suicide attack, said he would refuse his release if it meant exile. “I am sure he will refuse,” she told Reuters.
Iman Barghouti, wife of terrorist Nael Barghouti, holds a poster with her husband’s photo as Palestinians prepare to receive security prisoners released during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the village of Kobar, north of Ramallah, in the West Bank, January 18, 2025. (Credit: Nasser Nasser/AP)
According to the Palestinian Commission for Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, 10,400 Palestinians are currently incarcerated in Israeli prisons, not including detainees arrested in Gaza during the last 15 months of war.
The war was sparked on October 7, 2023 by the pogrom perpetrated by Hamas in southern Israel. In this attack, terrorists murdered more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapped 251 hostages whom they took to Gaza.
During the first six weeks of the truce, Hamas is required to release 33 of the 94 hostages still held, including women, children, men over 50 and the sick and wounded.
In return, Israel must release 1,167 prisoners arrested in Gaza during the war, as well as 737 others from the West Bank, Jerusalem or Gaza. Among these detainees are hundreds of Palestinians convicted of deadly terrorist attacks against Israelis.
-On Sunday, the first three Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian detainees. None of the Palestinian prisoners considered the most dangerous appeared in this first exchange.
Nael Barghouti shares the same last name as Marwan Barghouti, an imprisoned Palestinian political leader considered the mastermind of the Second Intifada. The distant relative is currently serving five life sentences for orchestrating murders and will not be released as part of the deal, according to Israeli authorities.
Nael Barghouti was previously released in 2011, along with 1,026 other Palestinian prisoners, in the exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas in a cross-border attack and held for five years in the Gaza Strip .
Hamas terrorists hand over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hostages Doron Steinbrecher (center, in pink sweater), Emily Damari and Romi Gonen, kidnapped during the massacre of October 7, 2023 in the south of Israel, as part of a ceasefire and an agreement between hostages and prisoners, in Gaza City, January 19, 2025 (Credit: Reuters)
Dozens of Palestinians released under the Shalit deal have since been re-arrested for terrorist activities. Many Israelis have since been murdered by terrorists released under this agreement. Among them was Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, who orchestrated the invasion and pogrom of October 7, 2023. Sinwar was eliminated by Israel in Gaza late last year.
After the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel, by a Hamas cell in the West Bank in 2014, many prisoners released under the Shalit deal were arrested in new.
Nael Barghouti, arrested during this raid, then served a 30-month sentence for belonging to Hamas. Although he completed this sentence on December 17, 2016, he was never released.
In 2022, the Israeli military announced that a military court had reinstated Barghouti’s original sentence on appeal: life imprisonment, with an additional 18 years.
The decision came after an appeal by military prosecutors, who said Barghouti had violated the terms of his release under the Shalit deal. They accused him of having been in possession of a large sum of money conveyed by a terrorist group. The case was also reviewed by the High Court of Justice before an appeals panel concluded that Barghouti had indeed breached the conditions of his release.
91 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 are believed to still be in Gaza, including the remains of at least 34 hostages confirmed dead by the IDF.
The terrorist group freed 105 civilians during a week-long truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were freed before that. Eight hostages were rescued alive by troops, and the remains of 40 hostages were also found, three of whom were mistakenly killed by the army while trying to escape their captors.
Hamas also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier killed in 2014.
