By- Radio ML
Palestinian Nael Barghouti, who spent more than four decades in Israeli prisons, arrived in Egypt on Thursday, February 27, 2025, among 79 other Palestinians released in the latest hostage and prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel as part of the fragile truce in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club stated that Barghouti spent 45 years in prison, including 34 consecutive years. Among the Palestinians released at dawn today, 79 were deported outside the Palestinian territories, generally those with high sentences in Israel.
Barghouti was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing an Israeli officer and carrying out attacks on Israeli sites. He was arrested in 1978 and belonged to the Fatah movement at that time. He was released in the 2011 exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, which included the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held by Hamas, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinians.
When he was re-arrested in 2014 on charges of incitement, his previous life sentence was reinstated. He split from the Fatah movement in prison and joined Hamas.
The Israeli Prison Service announced on Thursday that it had released 643 Palestinian detainees after recovering the bodies of four hostages from Hamas in the latest exchange as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.