Pars Today – On Saturday, the second round of prisoner exchanges between the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist regime took place as part of the ceasefire agreement. In this round, 200 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for four Israeli soldiers.
The Zionist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on the exchange, stating that on Saturday, 200 Palestinian captives were released from Israeli prisons, of whom 121 had been sentenced to life imprisonment and 79 to long-term sentences. According to the report, 70 of these captives were deported to Egypt, while the remaining 114 were sent to the West Bank and 16 to the Gaza Strip.
In this report, Pars Today introduces two of the most prominent Palestinian captives who were released in this exchange:
Who is Mohammed al-Tous?
Mohammed al-Tous, the longest-held Palestinian prisoner after 40 years of captivity, was released on Saturday as part of the prisoner exchange agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist regime. Al-Tous, a resident of Bethlehem in the West Bank, was arrested in 1985 during a raid by Zionist forces. He had been held captive by the Israeli occupiers since then. With 40 years of imprisonment in Zionist regime jails, al-Tous holds the title of the longest-held Palestinian prisoner.
Who is Raed al-Saadi?
Raed Al-Saadi, known as the longest-held captive from Jenin in the West Bank, was released on Saturday after 36 years of imprisonment in Zionist regime jails. This Palestinian captive had been pursued by Israeli security forces for two years during the first Intifada due to his activism.
The Zionists arrested his father and raided his family home dozens of times to pressure him. He was eventually arrested in August 1989 while visiting his family. Al-Saadi was sentenced to two life terms and 20 years in prison during the Zionist regime’s sham trials. During his imprisonment, he lost his mother, brother, and father. Due to continuous torture in Zionist prisons and transfers between various facilities, al-Saadi developed chronic illnesses and underwent several surgeries while in prison.
The newspaper Israel Hayom acknowledged in a report that most of the 200 Palestinians Israel was forced to release are considered key and central (fighters).
The Gaza ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on January 19, includes a provision for the release of Israeli captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The first phase of this agreement, which consists of three parts lasting 42 days each, involves the gradual release of 33 Israelis held alive or dead in Gaza in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, estimated to be between 1,700 and 2,000.
In the first exchange, which took place on the first day of the agreement, three Israeli female captives were exchanged for 90 Palestinian women and child prisoners.
The demonstration of Hamas’s strength and Western media’s acknowledgment of the Palestinian resistance’s capabilities have recently become headline news and trending topics on social media. The release of a new documentary about the devastating blow dealt by the resistance on October 7, 2023, has completely shifted the media narrative in favor of Hamas and the resistance.
On Friday evening, Al Jazeera aired the program “The Hidden Is More Immense”, revealing some secrets and details of the October 7, 2023 operation, particularly the direct involvement of the late martyr Yahya Sinwar, the former head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in close-quarters combat. Sinwar, like Mohammed al-Tous and Raed al-Saadi, had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Israeli regime.
Martyr Yahya Sinwar was sentenced to four life terms by Israel in 1989 and spent 22 years in prison. In 2011, he was among 1,027 prisoners released as part of a prisoner exchange deal for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
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