3,000 terrorists to be freed in hostage deal – report

Palestinian report claims current hostage deal on the table would include the release of some 3,000 jailed terrorists – including hundreds now serving life sentences.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel could potentially release as many as 3,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists as part of a hostage deal now on the table in ceasefire talks in Doha, Qatar, a Palestinian source claimed Sunday.

According to a report published by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency, the latest draft of a possible hostage deal under consideration would during the first phase of a ceasefire, provide for the freeing of 25 Israeli hostages currently being held in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the freeing of approximately 1,050 jailed terrorists.

The report cited Qadura Fares, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, who claimed that during the first phase of a three-phase ceasefire, 48 Palestinian terrorists freed as part of the 2011 Shalit deal and subsequently rearrested for new terror activities would be released again, along with 1,000 other terrorists.

The 1,000 terrorists to be included in the first phase of the deal will be drawn from a list of female terrorists, terrorists under the age of 18, and terrorists with serious medical conditions.

During the second and third phases of the deal now under consideration, Fares continued, Israel would release an additional 2,000 jailed terrorists, in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages – alive and dead.

Some 200 of the terrorists to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire will be those serving life sentences, Fares said – referring to terrorists convicted of murder.

While most of the terrorists freed under a potential deal would be allowed to return home, Fares said, those convicted of the most serious offenses would be expelled from the country and forced to live in exile in either Qatar, Turkey, or Egypt.

Israel’s top negotiator, Mossad chief David Barnea, is slated to depart for Doha to lead the latest round of talks, Netanyahu said Saturday, after his trip to Qatar was delayed last week.