Israel refuses to release 6 Palestinian leaders in Trump’s proposed deal

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has revealed that Israel refuses to release six senior Palestinian detainees described as “key bargaining cards”, despite Hamas demanding their inclusion in the new Trump prisoner exchange deal.

According to the paper, Israel has imposed a “total veto” on releasing the six leaders, who are part of a wider list of 50 prisoners.

The six are:

• Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure and potential successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, is serving five life sentences plus 40 years for leading the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and allegedly directing attacks during the Second Intifada that killed five Israelis.
  

  Marwan Barghouti – A Symbol of the Fatah Movement

   

• Ahmad Sa’adat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, sentenced to 30 years after the 2001 assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi. He remains one of the highest-ranking Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
  

  Ahmad Sa’adat – Secretary-General of the Popular Front

   

• Abbas al-Sayyid, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades commander, accused of organising the 2002 Park Hotel bombing that killed 35 Israelis. He was sentenced to 35 life terms.
  

  Abbas al-Sayyid – Commander of the Tulkarm Qassam Brigades

   

• Ibrahim Hamed, described as Hamas’s military leader in the West Bank, is serving 54 life sentences for planning major attacks that killed 46 Israelis.
  

  Ibrahim Hamed – “The Military Mind of Hamas in the West Bank”

   

• Abdullah Barghouti, Hamas’s chief bomb maker, is accused of carrying out attacks that killed 66 Israelis and injured around 500 others.
  

  Abdullah al-Barghouti – “The Engineer of the Resistance”

   

• Hassan Salameh, one of Hamas’s founding commanders, is serving 46 life sentences for organising the 1996 bus bombings that killed 45 Israelis.
  

  Hassan Salameh – One of the founders of the Qassam Brigades

The six remain central to Hamas’s demands, but Israeli officials have ruled out any possibility of their release in upcoming negotiations.

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