Hamas is demanding the release of vicious murderers — including one dubbed “the symbol of terrorism” by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — in negotiations this week to release all remaining Israeli hostages and end the war in Gaza.
At the top of Hamas’ prisoner swap list is Marwan Barghouti, the imprisoned former West Bank leader who earned the fearsome nickname after orchestrating deadly terror attacks during the Second Intifada.
The 66-year-old was jailed in 2002 for the attacks, which killed five civilians.
Israeli officials say freeing Barghouti would hand Hamas a propaganda victory and embolden extremists across the region.
“Hamas isn’t negotiating peace,” one Israeli source told the Times of Israel. “They’re negotiating the future of terrorism.”
The hard-line demand comes as Israel and Hamas continue tense cease-fire talks at Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh — the latest attempt to halt two years of brutal conflict since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
The negotiations — which include US, Qatari and Turkish mediators — aim to finalize a broad cease-fire deal, bring 48 Israeli hostages home and pave the way for a full Israel Defense Forces withdrawal from Gaza.
Representing the US are special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who arrived in Egypt early Wednesday and privately pledged not to leave without a deal in hand. The discussions are expected to last for several more days.
As the negotiations continue, each side is accusing the other of dragging their feet.
Israeli negotiators insist no lifetime convicts or unrepentant killers will walk free, while Hamas leader Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement Tuesday that the terror group would not allow Israel to end the war as victors.
“Despite the brutal military force, unlimited support, and full American partnership in the war of extermination in Gaza, they have not and will not succeed in achieving a false image of victory,” the terrorist leader claimed.
Other known terrorists Hamas wants freed from Israeli prisons are Abbas al-Sayed, architect of a suicide attack that killed 30 people at a shopping center in Israel, and Ibrahim Hamed, head of Hamas’ military wing in the West Bank who has killed at least 46 Israelis, according to the Times of Israel.
Another central point of issue for Israel has been Hamas’ unwillingness to disarm as part of the agreement.
The terrorist group on Tuesday denied reports circulating that Hamas had agreed to gradually hand over its weapons under international monitoring.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has hinted that a signing ceremony could take place before the weekend if both sides agree, possibly with Trump in attendance, but few believe the deal is imminent as the sticking points — prisoner releases, disarmament and who governs Gaza next — remain unresolved.
Meanwhile, the war rages on, with Israeli jets pounding Hamas positions in central Gaza as militants continue to fire rockets toward southern Israel.
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