Hamas has said that the group would only release all 240 Israeli hostages held in Gaza if Israel agrees to free all Palestinian prisoners. Among those locked up is Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 for deadly attacks against Israelis. For many Palestinians, their “Nelson Mandela” is a leader-in-waiting.
After the gruesome attacks on October 7 that killed 1,400 Israelis and saw 240 men, women and children taken hostage by Hamas, a spokesman for the group’s military wing stated that the “price to pay” for the return of hostages was to “empty [Israeli] prisons of all Palestinian prisoners”.
