According to the current hostage deal, Israel expects to release 250 prisoners serving life sentences with blood on their hands, along with more than 1,700 Gazans arrested since the October 7th massacre.
Among the high-profile prisoners expected to be freed is Ibrahim Hamad, 60, who planned and organized dozens of attacks against Israelis, many of them suicide bombings.
Among other attacks, he planned the bombing at Café Moment, where 11 Israelis were killed and 65 wounded; the Sheffield club in Rishon LeZion in 2002, where 15 Israelis were killed and 57 wounded; and the Hebrew University that same year, where nine people were killed and about 100 were injured. Israel refused to free him in the Schalit deal.
Journalist Sapir Lipkin reported that Hamas will also demand the release of Abdullah Barghouti, an explosives expert who was one of the commanders of the terror group's military wing in Judea and Samaria. Barghouti is responsible for dozens of terror attacks against Israelis in which 66 people were killed and about 500 were injured, including the Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem in 2001 and the Café Moment bombing in 2002.
Also included are Ahmed Saadat, 72, who orchestrated the assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001 at a hotel in Jerusalem and was sentenced to 30 years in prison; and Abbas al-Sayed, most associated with the Park Hotel bombing in Netanya in 2002, who is responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis.
Hamas will also demand the release of Hassan Salama, a senior figure in Hamas's military wing, who helped plan two attacks on Route 18 in Jerusalem in which 45 Israelis were killed, and the 1996 Ashkelon junction attack at a hitchhiking post in which IDF soldier Hofit Aish was killed and 36 people were injured. He was sentenced to 46 life terms.