Flood of the Free: Prominent Palestinians who reclaimed freedom under new truce deal

By Press TV Website Staff

Nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including some who had been behind bars for decades, reclaimed freedom on Monday under a ceasefire deal that also marks the end of a two-year Israeli-American genocidal war on Gaza.

A convoy of buses carried the freed men and women to the occupied West Bank and Gaza under the banner of the “Flood of the Free” exchange deal, creating historic and emotional scenes.

The first phase of the agreement saw the release of 250 Palestinians serving life or long-term sentences on bogus charges and 1,718 Palestinians abducted illegally since October 7, 2023.

The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement also released 20 living Israeli captives early Monday, including regime soldiers and settlers who survived the Israeli holocaust.

“This deal represents a pivotal station in the path toward liberating prisoners and constitutes an impetus to continue the path of struggle until the chains are broken from the last Palestinian prisoner,” read a statement from the Prisoners’ Media Office.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, described the agreement as the “fruit of the steadfastness of our people and the resilience of its resistance fighters,” affirming their commitment to the deal as long as the occupation complies with its terms.

Among the most prominent Palestinian figures freed on Monday is Mahmoud Abdullah al-Ardah, the mastermind behind the 2021 Freedom Tunnel escape.

Born on November 8, 1975, in Arraba, Jenin, occupied West Bank, Mahmoud became politically active as a child during the 1987 Great Intifada. Arrested for the first time in 1992 for targeting Israeli military patrols, he joined the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in prison before his release in 1996.

Arrested again eight months later for aiding Saleh Tahaineh, he was eventually sentenced to 99 years in prison. Despite multiple failed escape attempts in 2001, 2011, and 2014, Mahmoud earned his high school diploma and bachelor’s degree in prison and rose to lead the prisoners’ movement, culminating in his orchestration of the Freedom Tunnel self-liberation.

Also released on Friday is Ayman al-Kurd from Jerusalem al-Quds, who was imprisoned in 2016 and handed a 35-year sentence. He was also shot by Israeli forces and rendered paraplegic.

Subjected to severe medical neglect, Ayman endured immense suffering, while his family appealed tirelessly for his life. On Monday, he was transferred by the Red Cross members from the notorious Ofer prison to his home, which came under the attack of occupation forces.

Kamil Saeed Abu Hanish, a leading figure of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) released on Monday, spent over 22 years in Israeli prisons.

Arrested in 2003 and sentenced to nine life terms plus 78 years, Kamil’s activism began at 16 as part of the vanguard of martyr Ghassan Kanafani. During his university years, he established key student organizations resisting normalization and helped organize guerrilla operations during the Second Intifada.

Targeted repeatedly by Israeli occupation forces, including an assassination attempt in 2001, Kamil survived torture and imprisonment to finally embrace freedom.

Muhammad Adel Hassan Dawood (alias Abu Ghazi), was in prison since December 18, 1987, after targeting settler vehicles in Qalqilya. He regained freedom after 38 long years.

Throughout his imprisonment, Muhammad endured harsh isolation, medical neglect, and the loss of both parents without being able to attend their funerals. His decades-long suffering underscored the human cost of occupation, yet his resilience never faltered.

Mahmoud Issa, born in 1968 in Anata near Jerusalem al-Quds, joined the ranks of the freed after 32 years in Israeli prisons. A member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, he established the first Hamas military cell in al-Quds and faced solitary confinement for over 11 consecutive years.

Despite being barred from university education, Mahmoud authored six books during imprisonment and remained a central leader in the prisoners’ movement.

Others who walked free on Monday include Nader Mamdouh Saleh Sadaqa, a Samaritan from the occupied West Bank city of Nablus and a leader of the PFLP, who spent 21 years in prison after arrest in 2004 during the Second Intifada.

Educated in history and archaeology, Nader played a key role in organizing resistance operations and prison mobilizations, earning the respect of fellow detainees across factions.

Maher Al-Hashlamoun, whose name is etched into the history of resistance, is also on the list. In 2014, Maher carried out a daring ramming and stabbing operation at the Gush Etzion junction south of Bethlehem, killing one illegal settler and injuring two others.

Sentenced to an astonishing 200 years, Maher met the verdict with defiance, mocking the Israeli judge: “You think you will remain in my country for 200 years?”

On Monday, after years behind bars, his release signaled not just a personal victory for him but a symbol of steadfastness for the wider resistance.

From Gaza, the story of Siham Abu Salem, known as Umm Khalil, embodies courage in the face of relentless oppression. The 71-year-old from Khan Younis in southern Gaza was arrested in early 2024 at a hospital alongside her two daughters, Rabab and Suzan.

Suzan regained her freedom in February 2025 as part of a previous prisoner exchange, but Umm Khalil remained in Damon Prison, enduring brutal treatment as the only female prisoner from Gaza.

A mother of a martyr and a patient battling chronic illnesses, she bore years of hardship with unyielding resilience. On Monday, she finally walked free, a testament to the enduring spirit of Gaza.

The long-awaited release of Naji Al-Jaafarawi carries with it the weight of family and remembrance. Brother of Saleh Al-Jaafarawi, a brave journalist murdered by Israeli-backed armed gangs in Gaza on Sunday, a day before the swap, Naji had sent a heartfelt message from his cell weeks before:

“Saleh, take very good care of yourself… be the first to greet me when I am released. I know you won’t fall short in my absence with my wife and daughters.” However, fate had other plans.

Faisal Khalifa, from the Nour Shams camp in the occupied West Bank town of Tulkarem, stepped out of prison bearing the legacy of his family’s sacrifice.

Brother to martyrs Forsan Khalifa and Faris Khalifa, Faisal endured the prison system that had claimed so many in his immediate and extended family.

Forsan, a former commander in the Al-Qassam Brigades, was deported to Gaza only to be martyred in an Israeli airstrike, while Faris carried out the “Enab” operation in January 2024 in retaliation for the assassination of a resistance leader, only to be assassinated himself.

Faisal’s release, alongside that of fellow prisoner Ahmed Al-Qanba, underscores the continuity of resistance despite decades of loss, imprisonment, and oppression.

The deal also secured the release of eight former prisoners deported to Gaza under the 2011 Wafaa al-Ahrar deal, including Saeed Bisharat, a prominent journalist abducted from Al-Shifa Hospital in March 2024 and previously deported after a 2011 exchange.

The liberation of these prisoners represents more than freedom from dark dungeons. It is a testament to decades of resilience, sacrifice, and unwavering commitment to their homeland.

Their stories, spanning decades of occupation, imprisonment, torture, and steadfast activism, echo the enduring spirit of the Palestinian people.  

Many remain behind bars. Marwan Barghouti, a senior member of the Fatah movement and former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was on the initial list proposed by Hamas, but Israel rejected it.

Barghouti has been in prison since 2002, serving multiple life sentences for his resistance activities during the Second Intifada, which rattled the illegitimate Zionist entity.

“Now you rejoice, even if you are alone, at the end of the massacre, imagining those returning to Al-Rashid Street, wondering how to ease their unbearable pain and torment as they face loss, rubble, and many great dangers, bidding farewell to the freed and comforting and patting the shoulders of those remaining in this hell,” said his wife Fadwa Barghouti on Monday.

Others include Ahmad Sa'adat: Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who was sentenced to 30 years in Israeli prison in December 2008.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk