As President [Name, if specified, otherwise implicitly omitted as in original] moves to finalize his 20-point plan to end the Gaza war, Israel faces a critical decision that could redefine the conflict’s aftermath. This framework proposes a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of all hostages, and a significant prisoner exchange. In return, Hamas would pledge disarmament and allow a technocratic interim authority to manage Gaza’s reconstruction.
A component of this agreement involves the release of hundreds of convicted Palestinian terrorists, a provision that has already provoked strong reactions from victims’ families.
Dr. Michael Milshtein, who heads the Moshe Dayan Forum at Tel Aviv University and is among Israel’s foremost experts on Hamas, informed Digital that the list of approximately 250 prisoners contains names he described as representing “a genuine strategic danger.”
“These are not low-level operatives,” Milshtein stated. “Among them are individuals who cultivated power and influence while imprisoned. Upon release, they are expected to resume leadership roles.”
He offered several instances that, he contended, illustrate the risks associated with past exchanges. Among the prisoners currently being discussed are Abbas al-Sayed, convicted for the 2002 Park Hotel bombing in Netanya, which claimed 30 lives; Ibrahim Hamed, a former Hamas military commander in the West Bank, serving over 40 life sentences; Abdullah Barghouti, who manufactured explosives for a series of large-scale suicide bombings; and Hassan Salameh, convicted for orchestrating multiple bus attacks in the 1990s.
“These are individuals with dozens of life sentences,” Milshtein elaborated. “We’ve previously observed the consequences when such figures are released. Many perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacre were prisoners freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.”
Milshtein noted that several individuals have swiftly rejoined Hamas’s leadership abroad. He highlighted Abdel Nasser Issa, a Hamas operative convicted in 1995 who was released earlier this year and soon relocated to Turkey, where he began appearing in podcasts as part of the group’s senior political echelon. “That is the blueprint,” Milshtein said. “They enter prison as operatives and emerge as decision-makers.”
Among the most alarming names, he added, is Jamal Al-Hur, whom he characterized as “one of the five most dangerous.” Al-Hur, with deep ties to Hamas’s hierarchy, has spent nearly three decades in prison and now functions as a crucial liaison between incarcerated operatives and the group’s external leadership. “He did not enter as a leader but became one inside,” Milshtein stated. “If released, he will quickly re-establish himself—just as others did before him.”
Al-Hur’s inclusion on the draft list has reawakened sorrow for the family of Sharon Edri, the Israeli soldier he helped kidnap, torture, and murder in 1996. Al-Hur was also convicted for the 1997 Apropo Café bombing in Tel Aviv that killed 13 civilians. On two prior occasions, his name appeared on proposed release lists and was removed following public pressure.
“I know what it’s like not to know where your brother is for seven months,” said Danielle Edry Karten, Edri’s sister, who resides in New York. “There’s nothing that makes me happier than knowing families will soon be reunited with [hostages]. But this man should not be released—not solely because of my brother, but because of the danger he continues to pose.”
“He kidnapped, mutilated, tortured my uncle,” said Izzy Karten, Edri’s nephew, in an interview with Digital from New York. “He went to jail, was released, and subsequently committed the Apropo Café bombing. Later, he helped organize the kidnapping of the three boys that initiated the 2014 war. Now he’s a senior Hamas leader inside prison—that’s why we call him the next Sinwar.”
Karten added: “We are not opposed to the peace deal. We are praying for the hostages to come home. We simply need to ensure they don’t trade them for the worst of the worst.”
This week, the family launched a new petition urging the Israeli government to block Al-Hur’s release and to prohibit any future swaps involving convicted murderers.
At Sharon Edri’s funeral nearly three decades ago, Netanyahu vowed to the family, “We are telling the killers—you won’t break the people and the family. We will not forget him and your daughter Hana. We will end the terror and will bring peace.” The family now fears that this promise may be unfulfilled.
Beyond the list of infamous prisoners, another issue threatens to derail the negotiations: Hamas’s demand to release approximately 90 members of its elite “Nukhba” force, the commandos who spearheaded the most horrific atrocities in the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities.
Milshtein, who visited the section of Ramla Prison where some of these terrorists are held, stated they remain unrepentant. “I spoke with them,” he told Digital. “They are fanatical—completely committed. They show no remorse. Their only regret is not having killed more people.”
He described the Nukhba detainees as the most ideologically extreme and operationally capable within Hamas’s ranks. “They are like a special-forces division with a radical worldview,” he commented. “Releasing them would be akin to setting free the individuals who planned and executed the worst day in Israel’s history.”
Despite the inherent risks, Milshtein acknowledged that Israel might have no alternative. “It’s a terrible predicament,” he stated. “But strategically, this may be one of those bitter compromises Israel will have to make to bring its citizens home.”