Hamas promises ‘many’ prisoner swaps

Hamas leaders Essam Aldalis (L) Rawhi Mushtaha (C) Khalil Al-Hayya (R) walk outside the VIP hall at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on March 15, 2021 [SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images]

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement promised on Tuesday that there will be “many” prisoner swap deals.

“We have been exerting a lot of effort to get our prisoners released from Israeli jails,” said Senior Hamas official Rawhi Mushtaha. “We do not promise a single swap deal, but many.”

Mushtaha spent over two decades in Israeli prisons and was released in a prisoner swap reached between Hamas and Israel in 2011. “There is no limit to the effort exerted by Hamas to liberate the prisoners. We defend them with all possible means.”

He also warned Israel not to harm Palestinian prisoners. “Any attack on the prisoners will not pass without due consideration. Harming them means harming all the Palestinians.”

As of September, the number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel was 4,760, including 820 administrative detainees held with neither charge nor trial, 160 children and 33 women.

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